Deus ex Evangelion
by ValikVicious
Summary: Asuka Langley Sohryu is relocated from Germany to Tokyo-3 after the death of the Third Child in the battle against Sachiel. But soon she has to ask herself if Ikari Shinji is as dead as she's being told. And what exactly is she piloting?
1. Chapter 1

Asuka Langley Sohryu emitted a small sigh as she lightly hopped down from the chopper that brought her onto the landing pad from the Tokyo-2 airport.

Tokyo-3. A glorious fortress, the last hope of mankind against the cruel alien invaders known as the Angels. A battlefield, where she, Asuka, was expected to risk her life inside an unfamiliar Evangelion and like it.

The young girl cursed the commander silently once again, bemoaning her luck. Why, oh why couldn't the brass just hurry up and ship her own Unit 02 here, so that she could crush the invaders in a proper production Eva perfectly suited for her? Asuka added another curse towards the dead pilot of Unit 01 and immediately felt shame.

The pilot, Ikari Shinji, was the commander's son and the designated Third Child, apparently unprepared for his responsibility. As far as Asuka heard, they didn't have time to train the child, since Sachiel, the Third Angel showed up so suddenly. The proper pilot stationed in Tokyo-3, Ayaname Rei, had been, and probably still was, injured at the time of the attack and couldn't pilot her own Eva, the Unit 00 prototype, so they just stuffed the Ikari kid into the entry plug of Unit 01 and hoped for the best. Asuka didn't blame them, the situation was quite desperate, from what Kaji had told her, but still, the whole affair reeked of the higher-ups' incompetence.

The teenager shook her head, trying to discard the pictures she had seen from the battle footage, but not quite able to.

'_Damage to the right arm! All conections dead!'_

The Third Child was able to activate Unit 01, with an impressive 43% synch first time ratio, so they sent him out.

'_Shinji! It's not your arm! Let the pain go! It's just the Eva!'_

Against a being that took a tactical N2 point bombardment and was slowed down for only half an hour.

'_Skull has been penetrated! Synch rate dropping rapidly!'_

And he had fought. Or tried to. But he couldn't even _walk_.

'_Pilot's lifesigns destabalising! We're losing him!'_

'_Shinji-kun!'_

'_Initiating heart-massage!'_

'_Rapid necrosis of the cranial nerve! Permanent damage eminent!'_

'_Shinji-kun!! Don't die!'_

The angel killed the boy. Just like that.

'_Synch rate spike! 370% and rising!'_

'_The bio-neural pulses are flowing backwards!'_

But they got lucky, if one could call it that. The Eva went out of control, piloted by an already cooling corpse.

'_Berserker…'_

'_SHINJI-KUN!'_

Asuka jerked out of her reverie, still having to suppress a shudder every time she thought of the tape she was shown back in Germany. The Eva _ate _the angel, massacring it beforehand. It howled, and it trashed, and it _consumed… _A horrible picture that it was, it still caused her to feel pity towards the now dead Ikari Shinji, a boy she never knew but still had no choice but to respect slightly. First losses in the pilots' rows…

Brushing the strangely sobering thought aside, she lifted her bag and marched towards the parking lot where the slightly beat-up blue Alpine stood. It was time to face the music.

* * *

"And this is the Unit 01 you're going to pilot." Dr. Akagi Ritsuko proudly lectured, causing Asuka to perk up and look over the intimidating visage with a demonic horn. She had to admit, the thing looked impressive enough, thought the paintjob was somewhat lacking. Maybe she could convince the Command to paint it red, like her –former- Unit…

Akagi continued, smirking lightly at the girl's grinning face:

"Come along, I'll introduce you to the cage maintenance." She led on, departing from the umbilical bridge and sliding her card through the slot, causing the small elevator to open. Soon, they entered the observation platform, where a few technicians milled about, manning the consoles. A young female lieutenant stood in front of the forward terminal, right in front of the window, throwing glances at the purple Evangelion through the reinforced glass, while keying in some commands. As she saw them, she turned away from the monitor and saluted the doctor in greeting.

"Lieutenant Yuri Tanaka, let me introduce you to the new pilot of Unit 01, Miss Asuka Langley Sohryu." Ritsuko said, stepping aside for Asuka to come forward. Tanaka nodded, extending her hand and smiling.

"A pleasure to meet you, Pilot Sohryu. I hope we'll work well together." Asuka smiled back, shaking the woman's hand and already approving the lack of the usual Japanese custom nonsence.

"Call me Asuka, Lieutenant Tanaka. The pleasure's all mine." She answered, earning her a nod from the woman, who then inquired if Asuka wanted to know a few things about her future steed, to which Asuka readily agreed.

She shouldn't have, she thought, a few seconds later, as she was bombarded with enough technobabble to move a mountain. The fact that she had her degree in physics was the only thing that kept her from being completely lost. Still, she had to admit, the Unit 01's stats were impressive for a test-type.

"It has some quirks, thought," Tanaka continued, smiling a bit sheepishly.

"Quirks? What do you mean?" the younger girl asked, turning her head from Ritsuko to Tanaka and back. Both of them suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Well, to be honest, it behaves unusually sometimes." Tanaka sighted, motioning them toward the terminal she had used before they entered.

"You see," she continued, "since it was activated the first time, it exhibited signs of… independence."

Asuka just blinked at the lieutenant in disbelief. Independence? From a giant robot? What the hell was the woman on?

Yuri Tanaka shuffled under her gaze, so she redirected her attention to Ritsuko, who, too, looked slightly embarrassed.

"I'll better show you." She sighted after an uncomfortable pause, pushing down a few keys on the console. Immediately, music came pouring out of the speakers inside the cage, a classic melody Asuka recognized as one of Bach's cello suites. She jerked an eyebrow up in bemusement, to which Ritsuko smirked herself and motioned though the window.

Asuka followed her gaze and almost gasped. Inside the cage, the Evangelion, eyes glowing with brilliant white, slowly bobbed it's head up and down and from side to side to the music's rhythm.

"Today's Thursday, so it's Bach time," Tanaka explained, "it gets hard rock on Mondays and some pop during the weekend. The rest of the time, we just turn the radio on and reroute the sound into the cage."

Asuka boggled. What the hell? It was a giant robot, a weapon, a doll! It wasn't supposed to like music! It was a seventy meter tall _machine_ for god's sake!

Apparently, her look said it all, since Akagi tried to elaborate, stuffing her hands into the lab coat's pockets.

"After the…accident with the last pilot, the Unit 01 was slightly… unstable. You see, the synch ratio spike during the battle caused the Eva to come into direct contact with the pilot's mind. There was a reversal on the synchrograph as the synch ratio dropped again after the pilot's demise, so the Eva sucked some information into itself, so to speak. It'll fade in time, but for now… It can move on it's own from time to time and it already poked holes into walls with it's fingers, toyed with the power cable, and played a mean bridge game with the Magi, when we let them run diagnostics on it." She threw a pitying look at the completely befuddled Asuka, and continued.

"Well, we tried to stop it, of course, installed restrains, tried a few rehabilitation programs, but it's all of no use, and it _is_ quite harmless, once we reinforced the arm holds so it didn't damage the walls too much. Besides, the commander prohibited further attempts to immobilize it, for some reason." Now, her face took on an expression Asuka couldn't quite understand. Tanaka took over.

"Rumor has it that the last pilot…"

"Lieutenant!" Akagi suddenly raged, obviously disgusted, but Tanaka stood her ground.

"Well, Doctor, you haven't figured out how it can move with the block plug in place, either" she commented, somewhat gruffily, causing Akagi to glare. Asuka just continued to stare though the window, where the Eva's head bobbed up and down serenely to the music…

* * *

"Well, that's your new home, then, I suppose", Misato commented, putting Asuka's bag down onto the floor of a small but quite nice apartment in one of the city's more luxury living blocks.

The flat consisted of a small kitchen, already suited up with a stove, a fridge, a sink and a ray of cupboards which were painted light salad green, contrasting nicely with the beige walls and brown wooden floor.

There also was a living room and a sleeping room, all furnished but undecorated, as well as a bathroom, with blue tiles and a tub. Both rooms were painted a pale yellow, with nice carpeting on the floor and both had an exit to a spacious balcony. Needless to say, Asuka was in love with this place. It had all the nessecery electronics, including a TV, was completely stocked up on food and anything a girl could need, and it was positioned near the mall. Also, if something went wrong, the owner lived only a few floors away, so the young girl was suitably impressed with the respect Nerv paid her pilot status.

"I'll be your legal guardian for the time you stay in Tokyo-3, so if you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to call or drop by. You got your cellphone?" Misato suddenly inquired.

"Yup." Asuka grinned, already rooting through the cupboard to take stock of what she had. Misato nodded slightly, studying the girl.

"You know, you can still come live with me. The offer's still open." She commented, pulling out a cigarette pack and lighting one. Asuka grimaced, pulling out a cup and handing it to the captain to use as an ashtray.

"Bah, Misato, you drink, you smoke now, apparently, and your flat is probably a sty." She commented, leaning against a counter.

"I still remember the way our apartment in Leipzig used to look like when you lived there." she smirked, "And when did you start to smoke, anyways?"

Misato grimaced slightly, but answered nonetheless.

"After Ikari-kun was killed." She said, then quickly elaborated, seeing the lack of understanding in her charge's eyes:

"Ikari Shinji. The pilot." She grimaced again, not comfortable with the topic, but Asuka pressed on, now curious.

"You knew him, then?"

"No, not really. I just picked him up when the Third Angel attacked. Cute kid. A little shy, but cute anyways. Had a huge row with his father, the Commander, in the Unit 01's cage. Said he didn't want to pilot." The woman grinned, mirthless.

"Well, so his loving daddy tells his lackeys to roll out the other pilot, Ayaname Rei. On a gunnery, bandaged from head to toe and tells her she has to pilot it instead of Ikari-kun. The bastard." She finished bitterly.

Asuka was silent for a second, absorbing the information. She wondered how the poor guy felt then.

Misato went on, taking a long drag on her cigarette.

"Well, of course the kid agreed then, since Ayaname was in no shape to walk, much less pilot the thing. And, since the Angel was attacking at the time, blasting at the city, I figured, it's our only choice, you know?" the older woman's voice was almost pleading, as if seeking forgiveness. Almost. But most and foremost, it was bitter, as was her small smirk. She looked old, suddenly.

"Well, he got into the plug and off he went, with a synch ratio of 43% on his first try, so I figured, he stood a decent chance there. Well, you already know how this worked out, you've seen the tapes." Misato finished her cigarette and disengaged from the wall she was leaning against.

"The commander just shrugged and said we needed a new pilot. Just like that, please-and-thank-you for taking one for the team. He'll still not enter the cage, if it's not filled with Bakelite, thought. Probably afraid the Eva'll crush him or something. Wouldn't blame the big and purple, thought."

Asuka chewed on all this, a little shocked and suddenly weary.

"Misato?" she asked finally, watching the woman wash the cup out in the sink.

"Hmm?"

"What do you think of the whole thing? With the sentient Eva, I mean." Misato put the cup down and looked Asuka in the eyes for a second, then turned away.

"No idea. It's sentient, allright. I mean, it turns around for the techs when they're cleaning it, for god's sake. Ritsuko can't explain it either, and she designed the bloody thing. Talks about reverse harmonics and hopes it'll fade in time." She was silent for a second. "But, between you and me, we all have no idea what the Evas ARE. They aren't just robots, that's for sure. Unit 00 also moved on it's own, when Ayaname tried to reactivate, so maybe all Evas can act on their own, I wouldn't know."

Misato picked up her own bag with disguised calmness and Asuka felt a pang of guilt for pulling the woman's wounds open.

"What I do know," the captain continued, readjusting her clothes and turning to face Asuka again, "is that you'll have to stay sharp. We've already sent one kid to his death. I don't want you do be the next one. Ok?"

Asuka could only nod.

After Misato left, she unpacked quickly, bemoaning the fact that the rest of her things would be arriving in a week, then cooked herself a small meal and went to bed afterwards. Yet, sleep didn't come.

"Sent to death by his own father…"

* * *

"Ok, Asuka, we're flooding the plug with LCL. Everything ok?" Misato asked over the com, sipping from a cup of coffee and taking a drag of her cancer stick. Asuka nodded, smiling. Finally, the test time has come and she was sure she could synchronize with this unit. After all, she was the great Asuka Langley Sohryu, pilot extraordinaire, and she was trained for ten years! It'd be a piece of cake, she smirked to herself.

"A-10 neural connections engaged, charging LCL. No problems detected." Huyuga Makoto reported, clicking away on his console. Aoba Shigeru jumped right in:

"First phase cleared, all checkpoints green. Pilot's heart rate slightly accelerated, but within the allowed piloting parameters."

Ibuki Maya also added her two cents in.

"The psychographs are in the green. All checklists are satisfied up to 2-5-5-0. We're ready to initiate the secondary connections."

"Start the second phase." Ritsuko nodded sharply, marking something on her clipboard.

"Secondary connections initiated. Aproaching the absolute borderline in 0,6, 0,5, 0,4, 0,3, 0,2, 0,1… Cleared." Ibuki reported, typing calmly. "The connection is established. The bio-neural signals are harmonized. The unit has been activated. No mental contamination detected. Synchronization rate is steady at… 97 percent?!" the last part was exclaimed in disbelief. Akagi's brow furrowed.

"Recalibrate the sensor array and try again. That can't be right."

"Yes, ma'm." the techs acknowledged, getting to work.

"Asuka? You alright there?" Misato inquired, opening the channel again.

"Yup, everything's fine." The girl grinned, relaxing slightly in her chair. The Unit around her felt… nice. Not like her own Unit 02, but nice nonetheless. The chair was soft and comfortable, the LCL around her warm (which was new to her. Her own Unit's entry plug was always rather cool, if not chilly) and the control yokes lay snugly in her hands, as if built for her alone.

"Better then fine!" she cheered, finding out that she could (finally!) stretch her legs properly, since the command chair's leg slots were deeper then in Unit 02.

"I think I'm in love with this baby!" Misato grinned despite herself, hearing this and sipping again at her coffee.

"Sensors recalibrated." Makoto reported followed by Maya:

"Synch ratio holding at 97%, no fluctuations detected. It's the correct number, sempai."

"Well," Ritsuko commented, bending over Maya's monitor to see the impossible number for herself, "training does bear fruit." She addressed Asuka directly now.

"Did you hear, Asuka? Your synch ratio is currently 97 percent and…" she didn't finish, since a happy squeal came over the com from the young pilot.

"97%!! Oh man, I'm so good!" the redhead raged in elation. "I love this Unit! Screw Unit 02, this one's much better!"

"Yes, yes, we get it." Ritsuko said, grinning wryly. A beep on the console drew her attention back, as the monitors flashed red for a second before settling down again.

"Energy spike detected." Makoto commented immediately, apparently unable to believe what he was seeing, "The bio-neural pulses are flowing backwards!"

"Still no danger of mental contamination." Maya elaborated, staring at her monitor in wonder, "the Unit is trying to synch with the pilot!" Akagi blinked at the monitor:

"Synch ratio jumped to 150%..."she whispered.

Inside the entry plug, Asuka suddenly felt even more warm then before, yet still comfortable. The display in front of her solidified slightly, appearing more sharply, as if someone added contrast to a TV. She suddenly _felt_ the umbilical bridge around her, the power cable in her back, the restrains on her arms… The feeling of elation vanished, swept away by the sudden new sensations, but soon returned as Asuka realized that she _ was_ the seventy-meter-tall weapon of mass destruction. The purple armor on her body felt heavy, but not overly so, the shoulder where the progressive knife was stored itched slightly, and the control room before her eyes appeared to be filled with very tiny creatures she recognized as her commanding officers. And yet, she could still feel her plug suit hugging her legs, the neural clips pull back her hair, the LCL tickling her chin…

The sensation was indescribable, but Asuka still tried.

"YEEEEHAAAA!"

Misato cringed at the sudden happy noise.

"Asuka, are you alright? Asuka?!"

"Yeah, I'm ok! What happened? It's like _I am _the Eva!" the girl's cheer was infectious and Ritsuko grinned herself.

"Your synch ratio jumped to 150% and is holding steady. The Eva must like you." She commented.

"Yes, I like you too, you scary purple ugly… Who's the best Eva? Yes, you are, yes you are!" came Asuka's cooing voice from inside of the entry plug, causing the scientist to shake her head in amusement.

"Well," she commented, "we have ourselves a pilot, people."

Misato nodded, still smiling slightly at the redhead's antics.

"I'll report to the commander."

* * *

The large dark room around the Supreme Commander Ikari Gendo echoed with the retracting steps of the purple-maned captain, yet Fuyutsuki waited until the footsteps disappeared before turning towards his one-time student.

"Well, Gendo, it seems your son's sacrifice was not in vain, hmm?" he commented callously, adjusting his tie. The man behind the table rose, taking a few steps towards the darkened window.

"So it would seem." He answered, once again silent afterwards.

"Do you think _she _is still there?" Kozo asked again, almost sarcastically. The man in the black suit shrugged, a barely perceivable movement of shoulders.

"Irrelevant. It does not influence our scenario in the slightest." He commented, hands steeped behind his back. Fuyutsuki paused, thinking it over, then acknowledged the statement with a slight nod.

"So it would seem. Are you sure, though? It _is_ a deviation from the Scrolls' prescriptions."

This gave Gendo pause.

"No." he finally admitted, slightly gruff. Kozo nodded again, taking place near his vis-à-vis. Both men stared out into the Geofront.

"He likes the girl, doesn't he? A young Casanova…"

"His usefulness has increased in his death. Ironic. The old men still suspect nothing." Gendo answered, cold and unmoving. Still, the tone of his voice betrayed him. Fuyutsuki threw him a pitying glance.

"Venturing into the cage would not be prudent at this time. We have no means of control over the Unit."

A grunt acknowledged the observation.

* * *

"Ok, Asuka, we're finished with the pallet rifle, proceed to grid E-5, we'll deploy a particle rifle there."

"Roger." The young girl acknowledged, dropping the pallet rifle onto the ground, where it dissipated into digitalized data, and grinned again, engaging the control yokes. The armored giant moved through the Magi-created landscape, halting in front of the armament building and pulling out the long particle canon. Inserting the cable of the weapon's targeting interface into the Eva's neck, she leaned back and breathed out, preparing for the recoil.

"Ready." She informed the command, gazing intently into the targeting computer of her plug. The purple behemoth obediently turned with her movements, seeking the target.

It was her third training session to familiarize herself with her new Eva, and she was loving every minute of it. Not only was the Unit 01 more comfortable then her own red Eva, but it also _anticipated_ her moves in combat and acted accordingly. For example, she didn't have to open the prog knife hatch any more manually, since the Unit threw it open for her as soon as she approached the target with the intent to skewer it, or disengage the power cable when she was switching to a different power supply building. It was quite nice in fact, since she felt more at ease, knowing that the giant was inclined to help her in a pinch, should she forget something. Not that she needed it, of course, but still it was reassuring.

And the slight nod of the huge purple head every time she climbed into the plug was also very nice. All about Unit 01 was nice. No wonder the Ikari kid was able to synch with it so easily on his first (and only) try, she thought, suddenly receiving a slight cold feeling back from her connection to the machine.

"Your synch ratio just dropped by 3 %, Asuka. Is everything alright?" Misato inquired, suddenly cautious.

"Yes, all's ok." Asuka answered, feeling slightly apologetic. Apparently, the nice purple monster boy didn't like it when she dissed it's former pilot.

"Ok then, I'm sending another target up for you to kill." Misato grinned, motioning for Makoto to proceed.

Another black form of Sachiel appeared, quite far away from the Eva, stomping towards it quickly.

"Distance is 2 point 6 kilometers and closing in. You can take the shot, if you want." Ritsuko commented, marking down the simulation progress. Asuka shrugged and shouldered the rifle, allowing the targeting computer to get a lock, which it did in a few seconds. The Angel, however, decided to fire the first shot, forcing Asuka to duck behind the nearest building to escape the cross-like blast of fire. Leaning to the side, she caught the beast in her reticule again and pressed the trigger, firing two balls of superheated plasma to speed towards the target, but not expecting them to hit, since the targeting processing unit was thrown off lock with her sudden movements. The angel fired again, closing in. Asuka cursed fluently in german, damning the Magi for the increased complexity but relishing the challenge nonetheless. Making her way around the building she dived behind, the redhead peeked out and caught sight of her target, waiting patiently to lock onto it. A quite beep informed her of success and she immediately released two more shots at the ugly thing, deploying her AT field out of habit at the same time. The first energy ball splashed against the hexagonal barrier, but the second one hit true, the Angels own A.T. filed now neutralized, demolishing the angel's head and allowing her to calmly fire a few more shots at the core, neutralizing it effectively. She smirked again, enjoying the thrill of a successful hunt. The display in front of her flickered approvingly, glowing a bit brighter.

"Ok, Asuka, that's it for today. Good job, tomorrow it's close quarter combat." The simulated city around her disappeared as she acknowledged the disengagement order, revealing the Nerv training room and the thick cables running towards her Eva.

The girl put her Eva's empty hands down, stretching her own back at the same time, and marched the huge cyborg towards the transport platform waiting for her. The plug ejected with a hiss, draining the LCL and allowing her to exit.

"Well, big guy, see you tomorrow, I guess." She commented fondly, after spitting out the rest of LCL from her lungs, patting the control yokes lovingly and finding it increasingly easier to talk to the unresponsive giant. What a weird life she led, she thought with a giggle.

Stepping out of the entry plug, she stretched again and turned around to look at the Evangelion's head, which nodded to her customarily, issuing a soft rumbling sound. Shrugging innerly, she bowed back, grinning, and made her way towards the changing rooms. An idea striking her, she made a quick detour to the Unit 01's cage observation room.

"Lieutenant Tanaka?" she called out, drawing the woman's attention.

"Could you put another of the Cello Suites for him today? I know it' not Thursday, but he did a really good job today, so I thought he deserved something nice in return."

"He?" Tanaka grinned, followed by the others from the maintenance crew, causing Asuka to blush and scowl.

"Got yourself a boyfriend of Steel, Asuka-chan?" Tanaka needled, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh hah, hah." Asuka grumbled, smiling despite herself, "It's just, I think, if he were human, he'd be male. Or something." She shrugged helplessly, unable to explain her certainty. Tanaka continued to smirk, but nodded.

"Sure, no skin off my nose, I guess."

* * *

The hospital room was very bland and very white. The only window was shuttered, but not completely, so Asuka was still able to distinguish the only bed's occupant. She shut the door behind her and came closer, trying to see if the blue-haired girl was asleep or not. Apparently, she wasn't, since her only visible eye was open, staring pointlessly at the white ugly ceiling. The eye was red. Shrugging innerly and taking Ayaname for an albino, Asuka approached closer, drawing the injured girl's attention to her.

"Hello!" the redhead greeted cheerily, creeped out by the quiet, but not willing to give up just yet.

The girl on the bed said nothing, just staring her in the eyes.

"I'm Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Second Child. Just thought I'd drop by and see how you were." Asuka drew out a chair and sat on it, putting her bag down. Again, the First Child said nothing, continuing to stare and Asuka thought she was heavily medicated still.

"Well, how are you here?" the redhead inquired finally, as the silence stretched. Her fellow pilot moved slightly, turning her head to study her with her uninjured eye.

"I am well. My recovery proceeds slightly ahead of the schedule and I am expected to be released in 7 days and returning to duty in two weeks." The voice was very quite, bland and monotonous. Asuka shuddered innerly, since the other girl seemed to radiate some sort of frigidness around her without even trying.

"Well, that's good, I guess." The young german commented, only to once more slump into awkward silence. Ayaname's head slowly turned around, again staring at the ceiling. 'Freak' Asuka mentally labeled her, still trying to come up with a way to start a conversation.

"Are they treating you alright here?"

The blue-haired girl acknowledged the question with a small nod.

"The care I receive here is sufficient. I have no complains." She answered.

Asuka swore inside and undertook another try.

"So, aren't you bored here? I mean, you haven't even got a TV here, and I don't see any books, so what do you do here all day?"

Now, finally, an emotion flickered over the pale girl's face. Confusion. As if unsure how to answer that, she once more turned to look at Asuka.

"…bored?" she inquired, staring at the redhead with a strangely intense gaze.

"Well, yeah, bored. When you've got nothing to do. Bored." Asuka elaborated, a little louder then nessecery, to fill the room's silence.

"The emotion is… boredom?" Ayaname asked very quietly, as if talking to herself. Then, obviously having decided something, she nodded to herself and once more looked at Asuka.

"Yes. I am bored here. I was informed that one had to undertake socially acceptable actions for entertainment purposes to combat boredom." She nodded once more, not seeing Asuka's totally weirded-out look, and continued: "Yet, I am unsure what such actions entail. Please inform me, what would be a socially acceptable way to not be bored?"

"You're in luck!" Asuka outwardly cheered, thinking of nothing else then leaving the frigid quiet room and it's strange occupant as soon as possible, lest she caught the weirdness. Quickly pulling her bag into her lap, she pulled out a few mangas, as well as a small book titled "Faust" by Goethe, putting them down onto the bedside table.

"I brought you some things to read, but I didn't know what you preferred, so sorry if you don't like them." She said, inwardly thanking Misato for the idea, then forged on.

"You can give them back to me when you're done." Ayaname nodded slightly once again, following the reading material with her gaze, then returning to Asuks.

"Thank you. I will try to read them before I return to school. Tell me, are there other ways to not be bored?"

Asuka cringed at the unexpected question and thought if she could just blow it off, replying that she didn't know, but the other girl's gaze held such hidden longing, that she couldn't bring herself to leave just yet.

"W-well, you can watch TV, or listen to music, or something." She replied, bewildered by the unexpected turn of conversation and cringing innerly at her own lameness. She sounded like a total loser.

"Or you can go out, like, to an arcade, or go shopping, with friends?" The only visible red eye clouded over in deep thought.

"And if I do not posess 'friends'?" she looked almost sad, when she said that, Asuka observed. Well, she was a fellow pilot and they'll probably have to work together in the future, so might as well make nice with her…

"Well, I'll be your friend, then! You should count yourself lucky, since I'm the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu and I don't offer my friendship to just anyone!" the redhead proclaimed, smiling brightly and cursing her innate niceness innerly.

* * *

School, Asuka found, was strangely empty. Oh, there were students miling about, but compared to the college campus, they were terribly sparce and the large school building seemed very underused. Oh well, she shrugged, making her way towards her assigned class, paperwork in hand and the book bag in the other. Quickly nabbing herself some small kid, she got directions and found her way without any trouble, cheerfully congratulating herself for her own smarts.

Sliding the door open blithely and entering, she scanned the class for free seats, and took one at random, sending a glare towards anyone who looked at her strangely. Only one kid ignored her glare (the rest was deemed wimps and not worthy of her attention) and even went as far as to approach her.

"Hi. I'm Hikari Horaki, the class representative. Are you the new student?" the pig-tailed girl inquired, bowing in greeting and studying her intently. Asuka grinned and nodded, standing up and extending her hand, determined to disregard all and any unfamiliar customs. The class rep shook it.

"Yup. I'm Asuka Langley Sohryu, just transferred here from Germany." Asuka informed her, extending the paperwork. The girl took the sheets, studying them cursorily, then smiled back.

"Well, welcome to our class, then. I hope we'll all get along here. Say, do you have your school ID already?" she inquired more somberly, apparently taking her responsibilities quite seriously. Asuka nodded, still smiling, then pulled out her Nerv id, showing it off.

"Right here, it substitutes as a school pass. Say, there aren't many people here. How come?"

Hikari lost a little of her own smile and looked worried.

"Well, since the attack, many people decided to move, so we've lost quite a few students. But it can't be helped, I suppose." She sighted, a little angrily, obviously thinking that it, in fact, could be helped, if she got her hands on the cowardly parents. Asuka grinned a bit wider.

"Hmm, so you work for Nerv? What do you do there? Side jobs have to be registered with the principal." Hikari took a seat in front of Asuka leaning over the redhead's desk a little, so Asuka took her seat as well, smiling proudly.

"I'm an Eva Pilot." She stated simply, smirking as all activity in the classroom cased for a second, then resumed once more as everyone stormed her, crowding her desk and peppering her with questions she readily answered.

The class rep cleared the space quickly with a few barks Asuka had not expected from the seemingly contrite girl, then turned back to Asuka to satisfy her own curiosity, when Ayaname entered, calmly walking over to her own sit, nodding to Asuka in greeting, then pulling out "Faust" and started reading. Only now Asuka noticed that the book was in german and cursed herself for the mistake. She had a Japanese translation, but, apparently, mixed up the books when she brought them to the hospital.

"Ayaname! Hi. I didn't know you knew german." She commented, drawing the attention of everyone in class towards the pale girl. Rei ignored it, answering to Asuka only.

"I did not. I learned the language after you have loaned me the book." She stated in her customary bland voice, causing Asuka to freak.

"Y-you learned german in seven days! To read 'Faust'?!"

"Yes." Was the answer, the girl's attention never wavering from the halfway done book, "It was a very effective exercise to stave off boredom." Asuka freaked even more.

"W-well, that's nice for you. Keep up the good work?"

"Thank you, I shall."

Asuka's head met her desk under the pitying gaze of Hikari, who was already used to Ayaname's brand of unusual, then the class rep exploded in giggles.

The girls chatted for a bit, which allowed Asuka to inform her new friend that she was quarter-japanese, that she lived in Germany most of her life and that she was actually America, that she indeed piloted a giant mecha and that she indeed would be very glad to get to know Hikari more, when a new pair of students entered the classroom. One was dressed in a track suit and looked very glum for some reason. The other one was short, dressed in a scruffy school uniform and had a camera in his hands. All about him almost screamed 'geek', but that didn't seem to bother him overmuch, since he was cheerfully talking to his brooding companion. Following them was the teacher, who's sight caused Hikari to explode in motion towards her own desk, from where she started a military campaign of getting the class in order and was successful.

Halfway into class, Asuka found out that there was such a thing as too much information, since she never had the intention of knowing what it was like to use a toilet in the time directly after the Impact. Still, the teacher continued his sad story of the multiple uses of large tree leaves, so young german forced herself to tune the old guy out and entered the class chatroom in an effort to occupy her mind and be rid of a scary mental image. Inside the chatroom, the main topic was her very own status as the pilot, which pleased her ego immensely, so she contributed to the discussion and raised her popularity, finding school to be far better then she had figured.

Still, the day was not to end peacefully, since as soon as the bell rang the start of the lunch break, the jock she saw earlier stormed over to her desk, put his hands down onto it with a great force and glared at her with baleful eyes.

"Suzuhara!" Hikari cried in indignation, but the guy ignored her, throwing a 'Not now, Class rep!' over his shoulder and continuing to glare at the redhead. Now, all who yet had to exit paused and looked on in morbid curiosity at what was about to happen.

"You" the young man spit out slowly, causing Asuka to raise her eyebrow slowly in sardonic challenge.

"Me." She informed him, smirking dangerously, "What the hell do you want, baka?"

"You parade here like a friggen queen and have the gall to be _proud_ of piloting your piece of junk you call a robot!" the guy all but hissed hatefully, his sence of chivalry and hate for her obviously fighting inside him.

Asuka blinked in surprise, not knowing what to make of the accusation.

"Well, yeah. What's your problem with it, monkey-boy?" She goaded him, smirking again superiorly, as his eyes became slits and he trembled with loathing.

"My _sister_ almost lost her fucking leg because your moronic robot trashed the city!" the guy all but screamed, his fingers digging into the table so hard the knuckles became white.

"They had to operate her for ten hours so that she could keep it, and she might never walk again without a cane, you bitch!" he ranted, spittle flying. The geek with glasses put a hand onto his shoulder in an attempt to stop him, but the jock threw it off quickly, his gaze never straying from Asuka's eyes. The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'm sorry for your sister and all," she explained, blaze, "but I never fought in the city before. I came here after the attack happened."

The jock didn't seem satisfied with this, his eyes narrowing further.

"Then who. Was. The pilot?!" he bit out, "Was it Ayaname? Huh?!" his eyes darted towards the girl in bandages.

"No." Asuka said, her good mood evaporating quickly.

"Then who was it?! Who is the bastard! Tell me!" Now the jock screamed, his hands shaking the table. Asuka scowled angrily, but before she could answer, Ayaname interrupted.

"He perished in the assault." She quietly informed the silent class, closing her book and standing up. She made her way towards the door, pausing as she came level with the angry boy.

"Do not insult Ikari-san's memory in my presence again. You will regret it." She intoned, calm as ever, then continued on, undeterred, exiting the frozen class and making her way towards the school exit, book in the uninjured hand.

* * *

"I'm sorry about Toji." Hikari said quietly, sitting down near Asuka, a bento in her hands. Asuka grunted noncommittally, taking a slurp of the cafeteria juice box. Her good mood all but disappeared, replaced with irrational anger towards the idiot in the track suit and surprise over Ayaname's reaction. While Asuka didn't know the girl for long, she didn't think Rei threatening someone was a usual occurrence. From what Asuka knew, Ayaname had met Ikari only once, when she was paraded in front of him as blackmail material. Was she feeling guilty for his death? Asuka sighted, dismissing the thought. She'd just ask Rei the next time she saw her during synch tests what this all was about, she decided.

"Don't worry. He's a moron and he jumped to conclusions. Not your fault." The redhead sighted, forcing herself to relax slightly. Hikari brightened a little. Before they could continue their conversation, however, the annoyance from before made itself known again.

"Sohryu! Sohryu! Hey." The jock (Toji, Hikari had called him) run up to them, breathing heavily. He must've run all the way here from the school building, Asuka thought.

"What do you want again?!" she snapped, drawing herself up and glaring. Suzuhara fought a scowl from entering his face and tried to look apologetic.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier, ok?" he forced out, not quite succeeding to convey sincerity, "I-I didn't know, alright."

"Bah." Asuka commented, hands crossed over her chest, "What would _you_ know anyways? Get out of my sight." Suzuhara cringed, but was undeterred.

"Look, what's the big deal, anyways? What did Ayaname mean, he died? I mean, we saw the Eva take the monster apart!" Asuka's scowl deepened, her temper fraying.

"I'm not permitted to talk about it." She informed him shortly, turning away to sit back down, dismissal apparent. Suzuhara snorted.

"Yeah, right. You're probably lying anyways to protect the bastard or something." He commented, turning away as well.

Asuka's temper finally snapped. Here was some punk, accusing her of lying and _insulting_ a dead boy who died screaming in pain and begging for his father to help him, while the man watched coldly and did nothing!

Her foot found his crotch and impacted there with great force, sending Toji crumbling to the ground in pain. Asuka leaned over him, face red with anger.

"Ikari Shinji," she hissed out, staring into the idiot's eyes, "died defending you and your sister and the whole damned city from a giant alien, you prick. He died because his brain gave out from pain, forcing his heart to a standstill, while said monster tore him apart piece by fucking _piece_, screaming all the way. And you are alive here, insulting him because _his_ last order to the 'piece of junk' was to kill the fucking Angel so you could live and the Eva killed the Enemy with him already gone! I may not have known him, but _you_ have no_ right _to insult him while you strut around here, and he is cremated without so much as proper funeral, since his father, incidentally the man who sent him to his death, doesn't give a damn his only son bit it." She took a deep calming breath. "You will not talk to me or Ayaname. You will not look at us. You won't even so much as breath in our presence or I will destroy you. Do you understand me?"

The boy nodded jerkily, terrified and in pain and Asuka stood up again, marching towards her bench where an equally terrified Hikari sat, guarding their uneaten lunches, but stopped midway. Her telephone rang. The message was clear and simple. 'Code Blue. Melchior.' The city alarms only reinforced it.

The plugsuit on and pressurized, the Second Child raced towards her cage, grinning wickedly. Finally. An Angel had come to Tokyo-3 to challenge her. To test all the years of training she received, all the skill she called her own. Well, she would show him. She fully intended to show that she wasn't the best pilot of an Evangelion for nothing. She would destroy the Enemy, showing the Nerv that their hopes were not misplaced, that she was the best out there. Her grin widened a bit more as she imagined her Enemy lieing in a formless puddle before her as she cheered in victory. Yes, finally the day she was born for had arrived.

Sprinting up to the cage entrance, she spied Misato up in the observation room, winked at her Tactical commander and sprinted on, flying up a flight of stairs and jumping into an already open entry plug. The techs around the room went to work and soon the capsule was lifted and inserted into her purple Eva (Asuka reminded herself once more to do something about the color, even if she had to repaint the Evangelion herself). A quick twisting sensation filled her as the plug screwed itself into the Eva's neck, followed by a hard jerk as the back armor sealed over her. Quickly, LCL began filling the plug, flowing in with a quite hiss.

Ibuki's voice sounded through the capsule:

"Asuka, we're beginning synchronization. Misato-san will brief you once we're done."

"Ok, Ibuki-san!" Asuka responded, a bit anxious. The blackness around her flashed with colours and she concentrated, forcing the behemoth around her to become an extension of her body. Still, something felt off. The LCL was a bit murkier then usual and the screen in front of her wasn't as sharp as she remembered from training yesterday. Ritsuko's voice backed up her suspicions:

"Asuka, your synch ratio dropped to 93%. Is something wrong?" the doctor inquired, tapping on her keyboard.

"Well, I feel strange." Asuka commented, noticing slight quirks in her interface that weren't there before. It was as if…

Asuka cursed herself. The Eva didn't nod to greet her as she climbed into the plug. It was as if the presence she felt since she first synched with the Evangelion wasn't there anymore. Why? The Eva was there for her during training, always ready to help her out. But now, for whatever reason, it wasn't there. She was piloting a dead machine. For some strange reason, she felt disappointment.

"I think the Eva doesn't want to help me today." She finally said to the blonde doctor. Misato in the small com window pulled yet another cigarette and lit it with a curse.

"Well, no time to figure out why, I guess." She shrugged, bringing up a map of Tokyo-3 outskirts on Asuka's side display with a click of a button.

"The plan is as following. The Angel, codename Shamshel, is approaching Tokyo-3 from north-east, at a sedate speed. The stationary defences weren't very effective, so the JSSDF demands that we deploy you, the morons. We would've sent you out in any case." She took another drag.

"Anyways, we'll send you up into grid F-7 and you're going to intercept it as soon as it reaches the city outskirts, and engage it with distance weapons. The armament building is here." She highlighted a marker on Asuka's map. "You've got no backup, so fight smart. Don't rush it if you've got other options. The Magi estimate that the Angel has superb close quarter combat capacity. Any questions?"

Asuka nodded. "Yeah. Can you give me a picture of it?" Misato shook her head.

"Only from the satalite, it destroyed all our survivalence equipment."

"Damn." Asuka cursed, then grinned. "Well, no problem. I'll take it apart quicker then you can say 'origami'."

Misato threw her a hard look, but said nothing.

"Ok then, move the Eva to the 17-th catapult."

* * *

The angel was also purple. Asuka suspected that the color was following her around because she somehow pissed off God, or something. At least she managed to keep her red plugsuit.

Still, the angel was purple and looked like a dick with whiskers. Said whiskers glowed a bright magenta and from what she saw, could cut or melt through buildings quite easily.

The girl sprinted through the street, still hidden from the creature's view and pulled out a pallet rifle from the preplanned building. Smirking wickedly, she leaned out from behind the building and hit the Angel's AT-filed with her own, followed by a burst from the rifle. The bullets impacted into the purple skin, leaving small craters, as the huge monstrosity turned around, waving it's appendages threateningly. The pilot cursed, seeing that her shots had almost no effect, and jumped back, as the skyscraper providing her cover fell in three pieces. Sending another volley of shells at her target, she jumped back yet again, as the Angel proved that it's whiskers\arms were not only useful for close quarter combat.

Throwing the useless gun away, she deployed the progressive knife and activated it with a loud burst of sound.

"Asuka, fall back. There's a positron rifle being deployed in grid F-8. Don't engage it in close quarters!" Misato shouted over the com, but Asuka had to ignore her in favor of evading the glowing tentacles. The Angel advanced, floating over the wreckage it had created, and criss-crossed it's arms once more, trying to capture her in between and she jumped back yet again, hating herself for the need to retreat. It couldn't go on like that for long, or she'd be backed into a corner. Reaching the decision, she ducked under another swipe and jumped forward, leaning back at the same time, hoping to roll under the Angel. It was not to be, however, as the abomination withdrew it's arms with lightning speed and plunged them down towards the approaching Eva. Out of reflex, Asuka caught one of them in her off hand, suppressing a scream of pain. The tentacles were melting her hand armor. She pressed her progressive knife against the glowing appendage, still rolling to avoid the second one, and was rewarded with a screech of pain from the creature and a limp piece of flesh in her hand. Her enemy raised it's upper half from earth, waving it's arms around in pain.

Finding her footing, Asuka threw herself forwards once more, aiming at the revealed core, but the Angel quickly realized it's mistake and lashed out. Again, Asuka caught one of it's arms, grinning at the repeat, but this time, the Angel heaved, lifting her off the ground and swinging her in a halfcircle in the air. Still, she didn't let go, clinging on to the burning tentacle and gritting her teeth in pain. The Angel continued the motion, accelerating her flying speed, and aimed with the second hand, intent to disembowel her.

The redhead had no choice but to swing her knife, once more leaving another piece of the enemy's arm in her grasp, but now she was flying through the air, trying to twist around to come down on her feet. She succeeded, but just barely, landing in a crouch and sliding back almost a hundred meters. Luckily, she landed on a small hill outside of Tokyo-3, having thus spared quite a few buildings from eminent destruction. The Angel turned around as well, looking very pissed off, and floated towards her, it's castrated weapons waving wildly.

"Asuka, don't put the foot down! You've got civilians under it!!" Misato cried, her cigarette long forgotten. The redhead jerked her steed's head around, noticing two small figures lying flat on their ass below her lifted left heel. She almost slid over them.

"Scram!" she shouted, engaging her external speakers and noting that she had only 4 and a half minutes of power left. The cable must've gotten cut when she was sent flying. One of the figures jumped up and run towards the other one, trying to pick it up in a fireman's carry, but not being very successful.

"The boy's leg is broken, Asuka! They won't get out of there in time!" Misato's shout came over the com.

Swearing in german, Asuka remained motionless, watching her enemy approach and glad she didn't drop her prog knife at least. The figures underneath still tried to get away, but it became obvious, that one of them was in no shape to do much of anything, wailing in pain as he was.

The Angel was upon her once more, it's arms shooting at her. Asuka cursed once more and caught them in her already mutilated hands, dropping the knife, and howled in pain, as the Angel sent a wave of electricity into the iron body.

"Cut the synch to 40%!" Ritsuko's cry echoed through the still open channel. The pain subsided a little and Asuka once more was able to think clearly. Grasping her prey in her arms firmly, she stretched out her Unit's arms, trying to rip the accursed tentacles out of her enemy. Below her, the uninjured boy finally dragged his friend out of the way and Asuka planted her foot down at once, standing up and heaving once again, swinging the Angel over her head, as if to repay the favor. The beast crushed into the neighbor hill and Asuka picked her knife, then pounced onto the downed enemy.

The impact of many tons of cyborg crushed the Angel, ripping it's back open, but it still didn't give up, trying to turn around and strike at her once more, but Asuka, letting out a string of vulgarities, smashed it's 'head' with her fist, sending it into the hill once more, then plung her knife into it's back, twisting it to widen the wound. The power indicator dropped under two minutes.

Trying to work as quickly as possible with her suddenly clumsy hands, the girl struck the Angel once more, then let go of the knife and took the wound's edges, tearing it open with a loud grunt. There, she finally saw the core, with bone structure protecting it and fixing it in place. The Angel under her trashed feebly, as if stunned by her assault and pain it was doubtlessly experiencing.

Asuka ignored it's attempts to get free, striking again with all her might into the bones covering the creature's core. After the third strike the bone relented revealing the glowing red sphere underneath and Asuka grasped it in her hands, trying to tear it out of the Angel's innards. The timer signaled one minute of power left and the plug around her turned red, but the redhead ignored it, tearing at her prize with a crazed snarl on her face. It relented, but very slowly, and the Angel's trashing became even more pronounced, as if he felt his end approaching. He probably did. The girl strained once more, her fingers digging into the unyielding red crystal and sending shards flying. 30 seconds. She braced her feet, howling in effort, but the core was still held by the flesh and bone around it, the Angel's innards regenerating with astounding speed. 15 seconds. 10. 5.

Letting out a rage-filled howl, Asuka heaved once more, unwilling to even consider defeat, when, suddenly, the Angel twisted impossibly, breaking his own bones in the process, and stuck with it's hands, penetrating her chest. The plug around her went dark, as the power run out.

"No! You can't do this to me! Move, damn you! I was so close! Move!"

Another impact shook the plug, informing the desparate girl that the Angel was intent on paying her back for it's agony, as she jerked the now useless control yokes towards her again and again, shouting at the unresponsive machine she was trapped in. Another impact. And another.

Maybe it was fate of the Unit 01's pilots to die, a hysterical part of Asuka's brain thought.

"Move, you useless piece of junk! Move! I'm not ready to die yet! Not like this! Not in my first fight! MOVE!"

A spark. A blue flower of flame in front of her, in the entry plug's darkness. A heartbeat.

"i was scared." A quite male voice whispered. A flash of light, and Asuka saw a lone figure in a white and blue plugsuit sitting in the darkness, maybe a meter in front of her command chair, his head down, an SDTA player in his hand.

"i didn't want to fight." The boy whispered again, hands hanging uselessly by his sides, "not again."

"sorry. now you're going to die because of me…"

"Shut up!" Asuka screamed, adrenalin still flowing through her. The boy's head jerked up, surprised.

"What are you doing here?!" he exclaimed, surprise evident, "You can't be here or you won't come out of here! Get out!" now his face showed fear, but not for himself. For her.

"I won't die!" Asuka screamed once more, clutching her control yokes and disregarding the absurdity of the situation.

"I _will _win, and if I have to tear the fucking thing apart with my own teeth, I will!! Do you hear me?!" the boy cringed back, then smiled slightly, suddenly.

"Ok." He offered quietly. "I'll help."

* * *

The darkness dissolved, the plug once more illuminated with a steady pale yellow and Asuka spasmed slightly, as the pain from the Eva's wounds came crushing into her. The Angel still lay under her, it's thin arms rearing back for another strike. It didn't succeed.

The purple arms flew forwards, grasping the tentacles and tearing back brutally, coiling the Angel's arms around and with a quick jerk, tearing them out. A twin spray of blood colored the purple Eva red. Only now Asuka noticed that she didn't do anything.

'come on. it's difficult by myself, without power.' A quite voice sounded in her ear, jerking her back into action. With a savage shout, the redhead took control of the Eva's hands, once more tearing into the almost healed wound on the Angel's back. The Core was still there, visible under the mash of the regrowing bones and Asuka grasped it firmly, turning around and lifting her trashing foe. Forcing the Eva to stand up, she threw Shamshel over her shoulder, still clutching his core in her grasp. The heavy mass of the creature swung over her, flying, then impacted into the valley between the two hills. A second passed before Asuka realized that the red orb was still in her hands. The Angel was dead. The light went out and she once more was plunged into darkness.

"I won."

* * *

"Ok. I want an explanation. Now." Asuka growled, staring at Misato's face as soon as the door opened, effectively releasing her from the carantine chamber the recovery team dumped her into as soon as she exited the immobile Evangelion. The captain was slightly taken aback from the hostile tone, but recovered her wits beautifully.

"It's me who's wanting for an explanation, young lady. Why did you disobey my orders?" Misato inquired cooly, arching an eyebrow. Asuka glared intensely at her.

"As an unranking member of Nerv organization, not drawn in as a soldier, not directly receiving a contractly fixed salary, and as a minor, I don't even _have_ to take orders from you, Misato. You're, technically, not my commanding officer." She sneered, "Your order went against my better judgment, so as the one who had actually _fought _a huge alien invader, I think I had a far better grasp of the situation. Feel free to court material me, if you want." She threw her hair over her shoulder mockingly.

"Now, an explanation, if you would." Misato's face was as red as a tomato with anger and the girl feared her guardian might explode from blood pressure. Or get a heady rush, at the very last. Instead, Misato slapped her and got into her face.

"How dare you!" the captain hissed out, "Do you think I wouldn't pilot the thing if I could? Do you think that I want you to obey my orders because I'm your _commanding officer_?" The woman leaned back, taking a deep, steadying breath. Pulling out another cigarette, she lit it, briefly ignoring the stunned girl who rubbed her reddening cheek.

"You could have died there, Asuka." The older woman finally said, as if trying to make Asuka understand.

"When your power went out, we all thought you were done for. Heck, the commander ordered to drop an N2 on your position. What you pulled was impossible, no-one knows how you did it. Why didn't you retreat, Asuka? You could have gotten the positron rifle and blast the thing from afar. I _told_ you not to fight it hand-to-hand." Asuka, now very insulted, her cheek hurting, narrowed her eyes.

"Yes sir, ma'm Captain." She hissed out, standing at attention and saluting mockingly. She already turned around to storm off when the older woman caught her shoulder. A moment later she found herself enveloped in a warm hug.

"I'm just glad you're alright, Asuka," Misato whispered, releasing her and whipping her eye. Her cigarette lay on the floor, dropped and forgotten.

Asuka contemplated the possibility of continuing her prissy match, but disregarded it.

"Well, it's me, the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu. What did you expect?" she smirked arrogantly instead.

"And you still owe me an explanation. Why the heck did the Eva move on it's own?" Misato shrugged, now noting her lack of a nicotin stick, and lit another one.

"Well, you'd better ask Ritsuko, really. But, considering which Eva you're piloting, I wouldn't be surprised. It went berserker before."

"You know, what I mean, Misato." The redhead scowled, the heat on her cheek already fading, "I was in complete control. The only thing the Eva did on it's own was rip out the tentacles. And the thing I saw when the power went out. What the hell was that?" Misato's brow furrowed slightly.

"Things? What things? Were you hallucinating?" she inquired, concerned. Asuka shrugged in return.

"Maybe. What colors was Ikari's plugsuit?" Misato blinked at the question, then grew even more concerned.

"White and blue, with 01 on the chest." She answered, "Why?"

Asuka swallowed.

"Then I don't think I was hallucinating."

* * *

"Well, from what I can tell, everything is alright with you." Ritsuko commented, putting down her handheld scanner and marking off something on her ever present clipboard.

"No mental contamination, no residue signals in neural pathways and, apart from a highened endorphine and noradrenalin levels, everything checks out ok. I have no idea why you'd hallucinate something like that."

"I was _not_ hallucinating!" the young girl exclaimed, irritated, "I've never seen Ikari in a plugsuit, and I didn't know it's color before. I already guessed his right high, his estimate weight, his eye color, his complexion and his hair color. Now, I know it can't all be coincidence, so stop bullshitting me, Dr. Akagi." Misato, who was leaning onto a nearby terminal and smoking, scowled as well.

"Yeah, Rits. Out with it. No-one's buying."

The scientist sighted, shaking her head, and stood, stuffing her hands into the lab coat's pockets.

"Well, ok, but it's just a theory, so bear with me. Personally, I think it's rubbish, but it's the only explanation I've been able to come up with and the Commander doesn't like if I talk about it, so keep it to yourself." She answered, tiredly.

"When Shinji died, his brain cells deteriorated at an astounding rate, which shouldn't be possible, by the way. His brain died completely 2 seconds after his heart stopped, that's why we couldn't revive him. But, at the same time, the sensors showed his synch ratio spike to 370%. The theory is that the Eva somehow downloaded the contents of Shinji's brain into itself when this happened, creating a copy of his persona…"

"Try another one." Asuka interrupted firmly, "It it was just a copy, you'd have already flashed the Eva's organic brain, which you probably did. It didn't help, so it's gotta be something else."

"Flashed?"

"Reset. Don't change the topic."

Ritsuko looked slightly uncomfortable, apparently at odds with her inability to bullshit a 14-year old.

"Well, it wasn't just a copy. You see, when you break 350% synch ratio, you're exposed to a danger of your Ego borderline collapsing. You can't distinguish between yourself and the Eva any longer, so your body can dissolve in LCL into it's basic components, creating a sort of primordial soup, while your conciseness, your soul, if you will, would exist in the Eva's neural pathways. The body remained intact, so we all thought it was something else. But when the Eva started to move on it's own in it's cage, we developed a hypothesis that Shinji's soul became trapped in the Eva. It's completely ridiculous, of course, but we can't find a better explanation."

Misato shook her head, disgusted:

"Why haven't you tried to retrieve him, then? I mean, he's still in there."

"How would you have me do something like that, Misato?" Ritsuko arched an eyebrow, "his body is dead. He doesn't have anywhere else to go. I didn't even imagine he would be capable to realize himself, reduced to basic inborn reactions. We can't retrieve him. It's impossible."

* * *

"My word," Fuyutuki commented, studying the Section 2 report in his hands, "the second Child is rather protective of Shinji." Gendo steeped his fingers in front of him calmly, not bothering to answer such an inane statement, so the Vice-Commander continued.

"What will she do, I wonder, now that she found out what exactly she is piloting?"

"I have Dr. Akagi working on the possible retrival of the Third Child." Gendo finally deigned to speak, "Should she succeed, we will reveal a part of truth to the Second Child. The possible increase of her emotional stability will only aid us."

"Oh?" Kozo raised an eyebrow, "And, of course, it couldn't be that you just care for your son, could it?" Again, Gendo remained silent.

"She exhibits signs of disloyality towards you." The vice-commander finally intoned, studying the file once more. Unseen, the commander smirked behind his hands.

"She will remain loyal to the project E. She has nothing else." Fuyutsuki raised an eyebrow once more, but remained silent."


	2. Chapter 2

Autor's Notes: Thank you very much for your reviews, everybody. I'll try to be more quick with the updates. This chapter is much shorter then the last one, but I plan to get the next one up to 10.000 words at least. Please keep sending your opinions on this work, I very much appreciate them.

Disclaimer: Not mine, funnily enough.

Chapter 2.

"Asuka, we're flooding the plug. Everything alright on your end?" Asuka nodded sharply into the com window, where Misato stood, her customary cigarette in hand. The LCL rushed in with the usual hissing noise, enveloping her. The A-10 link connectors itched briefly before the feeling subsided, as well as the rush of colors around her, finally revealing the Eva cage.

"Beginning synchronization." A voice sounded.

Asuka took a deep breath of LCL to calm herself. Everything was going to be alright.

"Absolute borderline cleared." Again the voice, a male one and not Ibuki's. Who's voice was it?

"Hey, I have a weird feeling…" she commented, noting that the LCL became murky and dark around her.

"Continue the test." Commander Ikari. That's who's voice it was.

"Hey! I said there's something weird…"

"Synchrograph reversal noted. The bio-neural pulses are changing direction!"

"Synch rate 370% and rising!"

"Shut it down!" Misato.

"Belay that. Continue the test." Ikari Gendo. The commander.

"What the…" Asuka stopped midway, staring at her arm in horror. The red plugsuit was _melting away._

"Hey! Stop it! Let me out! Let me out, damn it!!" It was unheeded. The com window closed off, shut down by someone. Asuka just _knew _ this someone was the Commander. The plugsuit, as well as her hands, were melting, disappearing into liquid. She was disintegrating.

"NO!"

The channel popped open once more. In the small window, Commander Gendo Ikari could be seen, playing with a doll. A very familiar doll. The doll was smiling at her.

* * *

The cool air of her bedroom washed over her, as she jerked up on her bed with a scream. Heaving with quick, shallow breathes, she tried to calm herself, shivering slightly. She was covered in sweat, she discovered.

Making a face, she rose from her bed and made her way towards the kitchen, turning the lights on everywhere in her flat on her way.

It was already three days after the battle with Shamshel, and she still couldn't sleep properly. Akagi should've kept this whole shit to herself, she decided, opening the fridge and taking a soda and a vat of ice cream with her to the living room. Plumping down in front of the low Japanese table, Asuka opened the container and cursed in german, now calm enough to be properly pissed off. The clock showed three in the morning.

* * *

School, Asuka found out once more, was irritating. Oh, she received the attention that she was due and the course work was so easy it was almost an insult to her superior intellect. The kanji were still a bit of a mystery for her, but she was progressing nicely, so there was no reason to be concerned.

No, the young girl's main source of annoyance was the bespectacled geek. Aida Kensuke was one of the two people whom she had almost crushed in her last fight against the angel a week ago and he had a camera with him at the time (always, actually), having snuck out to film a real Eva-Angel battle. His friend, the idiot Suzuhara was with him then but, having broken his leg, couldn't pester her for now. Aida could. And he did. Continuously. _For a week._

"Sohryu, hey, can you tell me again what the rifle you used first was?" the redhead sighted, receiving a pitying glance from Hikari.

"It was a pallet rifle." Asuka tiredly slumped in her chair, having given up long ago, "Depleted uranium rounds. Armor-piercing."

"Not so fast, not so fast, gotta write it all down!" Kensuke cheered, typing on his laptop with Impressive Speed. Asuka cast another baleful glare in his direction. Why was she so nice, anyway?

A shadow fell onto Kensuke, causing him to turn around and blink in surprise. There, Ayanami Rei stood, now rid of most of her bandages, a book in hand. She was gazing at Asuka passively.

"Pilot Sohryu, I have finished the book you have loaned me. I thank you for your kindness." The blue-haired girl intoned softly, proffering said book towards Asuka.

"Tell me, do you have more books you could loan me?" Ayanami inquired just as quietly, as Asuka accepted her 'Faust'. The redhead nodded tiredly, still recovering from Kensuke's twenty questions game. Ayanami's brow furrowed ever so slightly.

"Is something wrong, pilot Sohryu?" she inquired, studying the bags under Asuka's eyebrows, which had eyes buried somewhere deep inside. The other girl shook her head quickly.

"No, everything's alright. Just wasn't sleeping well lately, that's all. I'll bring you something to read tomorrow." Asuka shrugged, slumping even deeper. Her fight with Shamshel and the revelations afterwards had shaken her badly. Here she was, thinking that she was piloting a big robot, a slightly selfaware cyborg with a like for classical music, at most. And it turned out that she sat inside a human being with a different body. She piloted a person that was turned into a _doll_.

The thought caused her to shiver slightly. How was he still sane inside there? In the darkness, without power? Why was he even still there? If she was sucked into the Eva, she'd break out and… Yeah, and what then? Run around to frolick in the wilderness? Ikari didn't have a choice. If he'd take control of the Eva and run away, or disobey his keepers, he'd be destroyed sooner or later, AT-Field or not.

'_it's difficult without power…' _ he had told her. The girl shivered once more. A gentle nudge returned her to reality. Apparently, Rei was worried enough about her to actually touch her on the shoulder. The albino's frown deepened, as Asuka turned to her with a jerk. With a quick turn, Ayanami stared down at Kensuke.

"Pilot Sohryu does not feel well. You will leave at once and stop interrogating her." She informed the bemused and slightly creeped out boy calmly, then quickly pulled a surprised Asuka out of her seat and marched over to Hikari, dragging the protesting redhead after her by hand.

"Representative Horaki, due to my concern for pilot Sohryu's wellbeing I shall take her to the nurse's office at once. Please inform the teacher of our absence." Rei said, then continued on her track towards the door, Asuka too sleep-deprived to put up much of a fight. The class followed them with astounded eyes.

* * *

"I'm fine, I told you already!" Asuka shrieked, as Rei ever-so-calmly dragged her into the nurse's office, her grip on the redhead quite iron like. Ayanami ignored her protest, searching the room they entered for medical personal with her eyes. Finding none, Rei once more walked forwards, forcing Asuka to follow. With a quick, but forceful push, the german redhead found herself sitting on a bed, while Rei went to inventor the medical supply closet.

"What the hell, Ayanami?!" Asuka shrieked, beside herself with embarrassment. Here she was, dragged all over the school building, pushed around, _almost thrown_ on a hospital bed with great aplomb, and Rei had the guts to do that all without even so much as an explanation?! No way.

Her dark musings of terrible revenge on the albino were interrupted by Rei's calm voice, however.

"You are not well. As your fellow pilot, it is my duty to ensure your wellbeing." The blue-haired girl informed Asuka solemnly, still digging through the medicaments inside the closet.

"No, it is not!" Asuka countered, preparing to jump her suddenly crazy fellow pilot, "I can take care of myself!"

"Certainly." Ayanami agreed, finally exiting into the main room and carrying a tray with a few pill bottles on it, as well as a glass of water.

"However, you appear exhausted and sleep deprived to the point of ignoring those around you for minutes at a time. Under these circumstances, you are unable to meet objective decisions, as your effectiveness is reduced. Should there be an Angel attack, you would be unfit for combat and under such scenario, may suffer injuries or be killed. That is not acceptable." Having finished her small tirade and putting the tray down onto the bedside table near the slightly mollified Asuka's bed, she popped a few pills out of different pill bottles, before continuing.

"Drink these." She shoved the pills into the surprised german's hand, then proferred the glass to her.

"What are these?" Asuka finally asked, surprised by the sudden vehemence in the usually contrite girl's voice.

"Muscle relaxants and vitamins, as well as a very mild sleep inducing drug." Ayanami answered, still holding out the glass with clear water. Asuka eyed her wearily, then finally took the pills and swallowed them, snatching the glass and angrily gulping down the cool liquid.

"There. Satisfied?" she grumbled, putting the glass back onto the tray and leaning forwards to untie her shoes. Might as well make the best of the situation, she figured.

"Yes," Ayanami answered, taking a chair and positioning it beside the bed calmly.

"What are you doing?" Asuka asked in surprise, sitting straight once more.

Rei answered without hesitation:

"As the Section 2 protection detail is not informed of your current location, I shall insure your safety while you rest. Be assured that I will not let anything disturb you."

Asuka boggled at that, slightly unnerved, then gave up, suppressing a yawn. She really didn't get much sleep in the past week, so she decided that she didn't care right now if Rei was going to sit here and watch her sleep. Stretching out on the hard hospital mattress, she threw a blanket over herself and tried to relax with moderate success. Rei stood there for a few seconds, then went off, returning seconds later with a medical book she probably nabbed from the nurse's desk. Sitting down onto the chair, the blue-haired girl opened her find and started reading, totally ignoring Asuka' stare.

"Rei?" the redhead inquired finally. The red eyes left the pages and centered on her.

"Thanks, I guess." the german muttered grudgingly.

"No thanks is needed." Ayanami replied smoothly, again turning her attention to the book, "It is my purpose to protect humanity from Angels. If it means that I must insure your health, then I will gladly do so. I shall not fail again."

The last cryptic remark piqued Asuka's curiosity.

"What do you mean by that?" the asked, suppressing another yawn with effort. Rei thought for a moment, as if searching for words.

"Due to my inability to pilot humanity was endangered due to Ikari-san's death. Tokyo-3 was left with no further defenses until you arrived. Ikari-san's death is also my failing, as it was me who was injured in the reactivation attempt of Unit 00 and Ikari-san agreed to pilot to protect me, I was told. My failure must not be repeated in the future."

Asuka's already half-sleeping mind digested this.

"It's not your fault you got injured," she murmured, "and I bet Ikari doesn't blame you either. I'll try asking him next time I pilot."

For a second Rei just stared at her book, not comprehending. Then, she turned to Asuka.

"I… do not understand…" But Asuka Langley Sohryu was already sound asleep.

* * *

"The expectations you set to the project are nearly impossible, Commander." Ritsuko seethed, trying but failing to remain calm enough for a coherent discussion. The cold man behind the desk didn't help with his attitude.

"I have stated what I expect of you, Doctor Akagi."

"But it's insane! If I can get the acceleration factor even up to 10%, the probability that the epidermal tissue won't be stable enough to withstand air pressure is immense! The sample won't survive! And you want a clone ready in month? I'm not a god, Commander."

"I trust you to find a way, Doctor."

"But…"

"Dismissed."

* * *

"Ok, Asuka. Nothing bad'll happen. Just do everything as usual." The redhead muttered to herself, then gave up and leaned her head against the hard steel of her locker. The plugsuit was already on her and pressurized, but she couldn't bring herself to leave the pilots' locker room. Not just yet.

Taking a deep steadying breath, the german girl pushed off from the metallic surface and closed her eyes, repeating a short mantra of "Everything'll be ok" under her breath a few times. Plastering a confident smile on her face, she opened the door and marched through the corridor and entering the cage where Unit 01 was housed. Calmly rising up the stairs of the umbilical bridge, she looked over the horned face of the beast that was actually Ikari Schinji… _don't think about it._

The huge head dipped very slowly, issuing a loud rumble of stretched metal and suddenly Asuka found it impossible not to think about it. Damn it.

Snorting softly, the girl threw her hair over her shoulder and made the rest of her way towards the entry plug with easy strides to mask her anxiousness. The hatch of the plug was open and behind it, everything was dark. Asuka never was afraid of the dark, since she _knew _it was just fear of unknown, but right then she suddenly understood why so many people were sleeping with lights on at night.

With slight hesitation, the girl climbed inside, taking her place in the command chair and the entrance sealed smoothly behind her. The uncomfortable feeling of being moved came and went, as a dull 'thunk' informed her that the plug had been inserted and sealed in place. Immideately, the com channel popped open.

"Asuka, everything ok there?" Misato inquired, her face showing worry. Only now, Asuka noticed that her guardian too had huge rings under her eyes and the styrophorm cup of coffee shook in her hands. Letting a smile she didn't feel was very sincere-looking pass over her face, the girl gave the purple-haired woman a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, no problems, Misato." The older woman sighted, visibly not reassured, but gave the the okey sign to someone Asuka couldn't see. The LCL came quickly, filling the plug in seconds. The colors flashed before the redhead's eyes, and immideately after, the darkness around her was filled with the Eva's ocular perceptions. Clutting off the communications, Asuka closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Ikari? You here? Can you hear me?"

* * *

"No reaction." Ritsuko commented, scowling, "I still can't believe you've talked me into this. Do you have how much energy it takes to maintain activation? We're burning through thousands of US dollars here in minutes."

"Ritsu, stop being the workaholic bitch." Misato lit another cigarette, scowling. Her nicotine consumption jumped up quite a bit in the last few days, she noted absently.

"I'm just being honest." Ritsuko answered, ignoring the insult. She turned to Maya.

"Open the circuits up to 1-8-7-5 and then up to 2-5-5-0, but in 50-steps. Stop, if Asuka gets a reaction."

"I hope this works." Aoba muttered, quietly enough not to be heard by others.

* * *

"God damn it, you punk! Answer me right now or I'll have you painted a vibrant pink!" Asuka raged inside her plug, still receiving no reaction from the machine. Her synch ratio was currently being artificially reduced and only gradually allowed to raise to her normal level, she knew that, but the lack of progress was nevertheless daunting and irritating at the same time. The view around her was solidifying slowly and the LCL was warming too, so she knew she must be approaching her limit, but she was intent to get the ex-pilot of Unit 01 to talk, even if she had to actually pilot a pink Evangelion.

"You're at 94% Asuka. Waiting for Eva's reaction." Ritsuko calmly informed her over the com she closed immideately afterwards.

The expected reaction came soon afterwards. Asuka knew from her feelings that she once again was at 150% synch ratio.

"Well?" she asked into the LCL, quite irate.

A reply that came sudden and unexpected.

The plug went dark around her and a small ball of blue light danced before her face.

_I'm here._

The voice came directly into her mind, without such an unnecessary thing as her ears.

"W-well, I just thought I'd… drop by to check on you, you know?" God, that was so lame, she innerly decided.

_How nice of you. _The voice appeared to be slightly sarcastic.

_I thought I told you not to come here, or you won't be able to get out, didn't I?_

"I don't know what you're talking about. I feel absolutely fine." Asuka ground out, the admonishment grating on her nerves.

_Sorry. It's just very difficult not to let you sink in deeper then that. _The voice answered, soft and hesitant.

_You're safe enough, for now, I think. So, what do you really want?_

"What, can't I just want to talk to you?" Asuka wondered, slightly irritated. Ikari Shinji was turning out to be quite different from what she imagined.

_As if. _The voice sounded bitter. _What did my father send you here for?_

"Listen up, Arschloch, I'm here because I wanted to talk to the dude that's stuck inside a huge robot I'm piloting, ok?!" Asuka screamed at the voice, her sympathy for the 'poor Shinji' evaporating in seconds.

The voice hesitated.

_Well, _it begun, _if my father didn't send you, what do you want? A freak show? Look the dead boy stuck in an Eva! He can talk! He can even move on it's own! Only ten yen to see the wonde…_

"Shut the fuck up." Asuka firmly stated, enraged by the impromptu pity party. Well, she couldn't really fault the kid for being bitter, but she was intent to show him that she wasn't the right target for his ire.

"I came here, because I thought that you're going nuts coped up here, but apparently I was mistaken." She went on curtly, then switched the com on:

"Misato, get me outta here."

_Wait! _The voice cried, suddenly desperate. Asuka paused in her efforts to desynch, awaiting further comments.

_Sorry. _the voice said after a pause, _it's just… so frustrating._

Asuka nodded slightly, unsure if Ikari's presence could see the gesture.

"Ok, I'll let it slide this time, baka. Now, my name is Asuka Langley Sohryu…"

_I know. _The voice interrupted, sounding genially pleased with the conversation now, _I have limited access to the Magi. I sorta pulled your files when the talk about getting you here started._

Asuka counted to ten slowly to calm herself and promised to go through with a pink paintjob for the snooping soul.

"Don't" she grated "do that again. It's private! I mean, what the hell? Did you hack into the locker room's cams to watch me change too?"

_There are no cams in your locker room. _The voice immideately informed her, slightly ashamed.

"And how, pray tell, do you know that? You tried, didn't you? Hentai!"

_Ghm. _The cough sounded slightly incredious, _you know, I'm not that desperate for company. And there wasn't anything private in your file, just a photo and some ground info. Oh, and plugsuite measurements. _

A small silence reigned, when Shinji obviously realized that he should have kept the last tidbit for himself.

"Hentai. I'll get you for that." Asuka finally commented, too calm to not be enraged.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Asuka Langley Sohryu stretched leisurely, working out the kinks in her shoulders, then slumped back, breathing in a lungful of LCL.

"Jeez, how long are they gonna need to do a simple reactivation?" she wondered aloud, shifting in the command chair to find a more comfortable position. When no-one answered, the girl scowled slightly and tapped her finger against the capsule wall.

"_I wish you'd stop doing that." _Ikari's voice immediately answered, a bit grumpy. Asuka had found out that the direct impacts against the inner capsule walls, no matter how slight, were quite a good way to get back at the male soul. Shinji had tried to explain it to her once, but the best analogy he had come up with was an itch inside your bones, which Asuka had, obviously, never experienced, but nevertheless found hilarious.

"Then don't ignore me, baka. I come here out of the kindness of my heart to keep you company so you'd better appreciate it, got that?"

The blue fireball flashed before her eyes in irritation for a moment, but subsided quickly.

"_Sorry." _the mental presence mumbled, before falling silent once more, as if insulted. Asuka's scowl deepened.

"Well, how much longer do you think it's gonna take them?" she inquired, tapping her control yoke absently.

"_How should I know? It's not like they tell me those things." _the voice stilled for a second, before continuing.

"_The Magi schedule says two more hours. Jeez." _

Asuka scowled as well.

"It's not like we're needed anymore, anyways! Ayanami already reactivated! They're just running her through a standard test! There's no more danger whatsoever anymore!" she ranted, causing the blue fire to appear once again briefly.

"_Yes, Asuka, I know." _Shinji's mental voice conveyed longsuffering irritation.

"Say," the german asked after a few seconds of silence, "You can get into the Magi, right?"

"_Well, a bit. They're not very friendly. Or human. It's difficult to get what you want across to them. Besides, I think Akagi limits my access. Why?"_

"Bummer." The redhead slumped a bit, "I wanted you to dig up something on the Eva construction. Oh well."

Once again the two fell silent, watching the orange Eva not far away from them go through the basic motions. Asuka wondered why she found the drab orange of Unit 00 so ugly. It should have been a step up from purple at least, but on the cyclopic Eva it looked incredibly unflattering.

A small window popping up interrupted her musings. In it, Dr. Akagi stood, looking quite pleased with herself.

"Ok, you're done here, we should be fine without you now, Asuka." The doctor informed her, stuffing her hands in the lab coat's pockets.

"_Stupid hag." _Shinji's voice snidely whispered into Asuka's mind. _"Did you know she has a cat fetish?"_

The young girl congratulated herself on suppressing the giggle and saluted to Dr. Akagi mockingly instead. The purple Evangelion turned around, obedient to her urging, and marched into the transport platform. On it's right shoulder, along the pylon housing the prog knife, a large graffiti in hot pink, sprayed up by Asuka's own hand, proclaimed that this Eva was female and thus had no penis. Shinji absolutely hated it.

* * *

"Well, I see you're settling in nicely." Misato commented, dumping her shoes at the entrance and handing her host the bag with a dozen beer cans, which Asuka eyeballed with mild distaste. Ritsuko simply smirked at the girl, following the purple-haired woman deeper into the flat, studying the décor curiously.

Ever since her things arrived three days ago, Asuka took great delight in decorating her, admittedly, already quite nice flat to suite her own style. Now the walls of the corridor leading to the living room spotted posters of the "Toten Hosen", "Silbermond" and even a "Ramstein" one (Which Asuka got signed after a concert in 2014 and was incredibly proud of), while every doorway had a "Borussia Dortmund" shawl hung over it. Inside the living room the decorations were more sparse, being only an American flag hung over the small cabinet in the corner along with a picture of Asuka in front of the White House on top of it, with a decorative vat of Neu-Dusseldorfer Alt (sadly, Kaji refused to buy her a full one) sitting comfortably on the shelf above the TV.

Following the two women into the room, Asuka dumped the beer bag onto the couch and dropped in front of the low Japanese table, leaning back and utterly refusing to play a proper hostess for her visitors.

"I still don't get why the 'inspection of my living conditions' has to involve so much beer, you know." She commented, only to get an eye roll from Ritsuko and a sheepish smile from Misato.

"Well," the purple-haired woman commented, "you see, to properly inspect how you're coping on your own, I need to be in a relaxed state of mind…" Misato started, only to earn an even more pronounced eye roll and an incredulous cough from Ritsuko.

"She burned down her kitchen two days ago trying to cook," the blonde explained to the suddenly amused girl, while their companion flushed red in the background, "so she's bumming off of pretty much everyone she knows until her flat is fixed up."

"That sounds like Misato." Asuka snickered, finally rising and disappearing into the kitchen, only to reappear with a take-out sushi platter. "Dig in, I'm generous today."

The women obliged greedily, and soon the beer was brought forth, resulting in two mildly smashed grown women and a mildly disgruntled and sober teenager who was denied access to alcohol due to her age.

"Say, Asuka," Misato mused, lighting another cigarette and taking a gulp from her forth can of Yebisu to wash down the smoke, "how're you getting along with Ikari-kun?"

The girl leaned back a bit, contemplating the question.

"He's a bit boring." She finally decided. "I mean, I had the whole impression of him being kinda brave, what with piloting Unit 01 without training, even if he was being blackmailed, but now he turns out to be a run off the mill guy and a perv to boot."

She shrugged, avoiding the other women's eyes, then took a gulp of her soda and continued.

"He's cool enough, I guess, and we're getting along fine so far, but I think he's just so desperate for company he's sucking up to me so I don't ditch him. Not that I can, anyways, but his constant apologizing is getting on my nerves."

"Well, according to his psyche profile, he's a very non confrontational individual," Akagi dismissed, pressing out her own cigarette, "so maybe it's just his way of dealing with the situation."

"Yeah, I got that impression too when I met him." Misato admitted, then burped contently, causing Asuka to grimace in distaste.

"How come you've got a file on him, but didn't train him, anyways?" she inquired, causing Akagi to raise her eyebrows in amusement.

"We've got files on all the candidates for the Eva program, Asuka." The scientist answered, taking her handbag from the couch and starting to dig in it, as if having remembered something, "It's just that we don't have the resources to train them all. It was a long shot that he managed to synch with Unit 01 as it is, and we certainly didn't expect a 43% ratio at his first try. We actually though he would be able to get a 9.7% synch at best with Unit 00, and his chance of getting Unit 01 online were 0,00000009 percent. He only got drafted in since the Angel was detected and Rei wasn't fit to pilot."

Asuka nodded at this while Misato drained another can and swayed slightly in her sit. Finally, Ritsuko finished exploring her bag and pulled out a piece of plastic.

"Oh, here it is." She said, handing it to the redhead. Asuka studied it, finding out that it was Ayanami's Nerv access card.

"Could you bring it by her house tomorrow before the synch test? I forgot all about it today."

"Sure." The girl shrugged, dropping the card onto the table and standing up, "now get outta here, it's almost midnight already. I need my beauty sleep."

* * *

"What the hell?"

Asuka stared at the decrepit multi-apartment building which, according to the address on the card, housed one Ayanemi Rei. The redhead walked past the crumbling masonry of the stairwell entrance, which was missing the door, and walked up to the elevator, still very much wide-eyed at the desolation. Holding down the call button and looking around once more, the girl discovered several empty syringes in the dark grimy corner near the stairs and shuddered. Jeez, they had an Eva pilot live here? Were they crazy or something?

Finally, after an almost 5 minutes wait, the rickety old elevator had arrived, greeting the redhead with a huge number of profanity graphitized into it's walls and a very dim light bulb. Resisting the urge to curse, Asuka got out on the fifth floor and walked down the open corridor, counting down doors. Rei's was one with a huge amount of unread mail sticking out of the mail duct and a non-functional ring button. Now Asuka didn't resist the urge to curse and did so with quite a lot of skill for someone her age.

Knocking on the cheap wooden door, she discovered that it was, in fact, missing the lock.

"Scheisse, this is getting ridiculous." The girl muttered, pushing the door open and hoping beyond hope that all this was Ritsuko's idea of a joke and Rei didn't really live here. Her hopes were proven wrong when she discovered a naked albino looking at her in mild surprise, a brown towel over her shoulders.

"Pilot Sohryu." Ayanami greeted softly, making no attempt to cover herself at all. Asuka cursed once more, then marched inside and slammed the door behind her.

"What. The. _Hell_." She asked, seething, then stormed into the only room of the apartment, Rei trailing behind her in contrite confusion. What she found in the room robbed Asuka of her last restraint. Grimy floor and walls. A cardboard box with soiled bandages. A bed. A fridge. Dirty shades on the only window. A chair. A commode. A light bulb with a strange contraption, which had underwear hung onto it to dry. _That was all._ Oh, and a dirty kitchenette. Can't forget that.

"Pack up, First." The redhead seethed.

"I… do not…"

"Pack. Up." The girl gritted out, spinning around and jabbing her still naked companion with a finger, "Now. We are not going to NERV today. We are going to get all of your stuff together and get it to my apartment. Then we are going to get an axe and decapitate whoever assigned you to live here. Slowly. Now get going, before I decide to torch the whole place."

Ayanami tilted her head to the right in apparent lack of understanding.

"Why?" she finally inquired, somehow summing up her complete confusion into one short word.

"Are you friggen _kidding_ me?" Asuka almost howled in fury, throwing her hands up, then pointed at the cockroach that lazily crawled from under the fridge.

"That is why! And that!" now the redhead threw her bag into onto the unfinished part of the wall, where the metal support grid poked through, degenerating into an incoherent string of german profanity.

"That's ridiculous! Gott! And they have you _live _here! How _dare _they have an Eva pilot set foot into this dump, much less verflucht noch mal live here!"

"But I have no complaints and find my living accommodations provide all the necessities for effective function." Rei interjected, somehow not sensing the almost palpable danger that disagreeing with the redhead at the moment would put her in. Asuka took a deep breath, then another just to be sure, finally calming her rage to manageable proportions.

"Don't disagree with me, First. We're getting you out of here whether you like it or not." Turning around blithely and completely ignoring the mild confused frown that appeared on Rei's face, she pulled out her cell phone and quickly dialed the number of her Section 2 escort.

"Asuka here. Get us a van. We need to get Ayanami's stuff to my apartment. She'll be living with me from now on."

* * *

"…werde dich mit einer gottverdamten Axt in den Arsh ficken, du bastard! Wie wagst du es, Sie in diesem Kaff leben zu lassen! Wenn ich dich in die Finger kriege, wirst du den Tag verfluhen an dem dein Grossvater seinen Schwanz aus deiner Oma nicht rausholte! Es war wohl zu wenig dass du deinen Sohn umgebracht hast, du must jetzt auch noch ein unshuldiges Maedchen foltern, du Hundesohn? Sobald ich in meiner Eva bin…"

Fuytsuki clicked a button on the console, turning off the recording on Gendo's videophone and for the first time wished he'd never studied german. The young Sohryu's language was quite descriptive. Smothering an amused grin, he turned to his former protégé, who, in turn, simply stared at the now blank screen in something resembling shock. He, too, spoke german.

"Well," the Sub-Commander noted, taking a seat, "that was an unexpected turn of events. I certainly didn't anticipate her siccing a mad german with an axe fetish at you in retaliation."

Ikari had already recomposed himself and was contemplating the video screen with a blank look.

"It is irrelevant. Have Pilot Sohryu disciplined for this disrespect of authority and her allowance cut for this month. Such insubordination shall not be permitted. I shall be having a conversation with Doctor Akagi in private about this. The First Child's housing arrangements shall be changed and she will now officially live with the Second."

Fuyutsuki nodded mildly, still suppressing an amused grin, and rose from his chair, intent on living the office to have a good laugh.

"Oh, and Fuyutsuki? Have the Second Child's access to any axes monitored."

"Yes sir." The Sub Commander almost chortled, then fled quickly lest he lost it right there.

* * *

"I still can't belive this!" the redhead almost roared, trying to strangle the control yokes. The blue ball of flame that she suspected was her mind's way of rationalizing what a soul really looked like danced in front of her in a mild fit of panic.

"_Asuka, calm down."_ Shinji's voice was two parts desperate and one part reluctantly amused, _"I can't maintain a proper synch if you're this angry."_

"Calm down? _Calm down?_ What the hell, Shinji! She was living in a goddamn hellhole! There were cockroaches! Cockroaches! And probably rats too!" Asuka raged, hitting the command chair in anger and causing the boy's presence to flinch almost visibly.

"_Yes, and now you've got her out of there, ok? No need to be so pissed anymore. Deep breathes. Deeeep breeethes."_ Shinji tried to soothe, causing the girl too actually attempt the uncomplicated breathing exercise. She found it didn't help very much, but at least the urge to force the Eva to crush something subsided considerably.

"And he cut my allowance too." The redhead sulked, throwing herself back in her chair and crossing her arms in front of her. Silence reigned for a few seconds, broken only by quiet sloshing of the LCL filtration system.

"Say, Shinji." The girl finally said, leaning forwards and trying to poke the blue ball of flame but not hitting anything, only causing it shyly dance away from her reach, "You ever tried, like, hacking the MAGI?"

"_Well, yeah, a few times, actually. I don't really have much else to do here but try and talk with them when you're not here."_ The boy answered, his 'voice' acquiring a slightly confused feeling to it.

"Well, and?" the german prompted a bit impatiently when her companion didn't elaborate.

"_Well, they're supercomputers for a reason, Asuka. Besides, it's not like trying to crack a password on a laptop. I kinda have to ask them for stuff. And every time I ask them something they think I'm not permitted to know they just throw an 'Access restricted' feeling at me. It's kinda hard to explain."_ Shinji muttered, sounding a bit pensive, as if searching for a better description.

The redhead sighted loudly, throwing a glance at the command bridge through the Eva's eyes. The synch test wasn't even halfway done, it seemed.

As if sensing the girl's approaching boredom, Shinji's blue fireball flared in mild annoyance.

"_Hey, so sorry I'm boring you. It's not like I'm stuck here 24/7 with nothing to look forward to but you dignifying me with a visit or anything…"_ he muttered sulkily, causing Asuka to scowl in return, secretly glad with a sudden show of backbone.

"Jeez, Third, what got your panties in a twist? The techs not reaching these hard to get spots while washing you?" she teased, trying to keep the banter light and, getting an even brighter flare of annoyance in return. There was no retaliation thought, as the blue flame seemed to dull suddenly, all the fight gone out of it.

"_It's the Jet Alone Project."_ The boy admitted, then continued, obviously sensing Asuka's confusion.

"_The JSSDF's building their own robot. The report wasn't confidentional so Melchior let me have a glimpse of it. It's much cheaper then the Evas so they may just decommission the whole Project E if the field tests are any good."_

"Eh?" Asuka cried in indignation, "decommission the Evas? B-but what about me? I won't be a pilot anymore!"

"_**Oh yeah, Asuka, let's forget about the fact that I'll probably spent the rest of my days corroding on some junkyard!"**_ The fireball flared suddenly, illuminating the plug with a fierce blue glow for a second and causing the girl to cringe back guiltily.

"Asuka, everything alright?" Akagi's face popped open in a window immediately, "You synch ration just spiked down for 1.7 seconds."

"Y-yeah, everything's fine." The redhead assured, closing down the window with a thought, then turned back to the blue ball that was seemingly invisible for everyone but her, which was still burning brightly in, admittedly, justified indignation.

"Baka. It's not like they'd throw out the Evas or anything. I mean, you're too expensive to just throw out. All they can do is probably cut Nerv's budget or something. Besides, no-one ever said that the JSSDF robot is better then an Eva. What did the report say anyways?"

Shinji's presence dimmed slightly, as if mollified.

"_Well, there was a lot of tech data I couldn't understand, but basically it just said that it was remotely controlled and run on a nuclear reactor, so it had no power limits. They're still trying to figure out how an AT-field works, though."_

"Well, see?" the girl grinned, considerably calmed down, "no worries then. How can that bolt bucket of theirs take on an Angel without an AT-field? Your place in the world is ensured."

"_Yeah, mock me, will you." _

"Thank you, I shall." The redhead nodded calmly, still grinning and causing the ephemerae ball of light to jump up and down as Shinji fumed impotently.

"_By the way,"_ the boy finally commented, _"did you really threaten to rape my father with an _axe_?"_

_

* * *

_

The Angel alarm awoke Asuka from her impromptu nap on the school desk, causing her to jerk up suddenly and quickly throw a look on her phone, which had quite a few missed calls, being set on soundless while in school.

Jumping up form her seat, the girl shot a look at the equally sleepy Ayanami Rei, with whom she had had a very tiring day yesterday, which started with trying to teach the girl the basic concepts of human decency, such as not running around the flat in her birthday suit, and somehow degenerated from then.

Ayanami was a very weird girl, Asuka knew that already, but she never figured that the weirdness extended so far as to not knowing what a tampon was. Asuka almost ripped a chunk her own hair out in despair after Rei admitted to just stuffing toilet paper into her panties during _these days _until now.

Of course, after this discussion, the redhead dragged the feebly protesting First Child on a shopping trip (after informing the Commander's voicemail that she would be billing his credit card that he had left to Rei for emergencies), which took almost all day but left the german girl deeply satisfied with her work and Rei terribly confused about the purpose of such an unholy amount of _everything_, starting with clothes ('Is my school uniform insufisient?'-'Duh.'), continuing through items of personal hygiene ('A deodorant? Why? I have always thought that not extending the intervals of time between showers past more then two days would be suffic… Pilot Sohryu, are you feeling unwell?') and ending with three bottles of incredibly expensive perfume ('Don't worry, First, just gotta spent as much as possible, hehe.') and covering pretty much all that was in between.

Yet that was not the end, as Asuke then endeavored to bestow her sage wisdom upon a completely clueless Ayanami, teaching her the purpose of each and every artice they had bought, and, finally, introduced Rei to proper vegetarian cuisine in a four star restaurant, where both girls pretty much stuffed themselves, (Rei, because she wished to experience all the sensations her taste buds could apparently produce, and Asuka, because she'd be damned if she didn't hit the card's limit today).

Full, sleepy and completely satisfied with the day, both girls finally slumped in front of the TV at Asuka's apartment, where the redhead proceeded to introduce Rei to the wonders of cinematography till three o'clock in the morning.

And after Ayanami went to sleep in their room, Asuka booted up her PC and proceeded to order the most expensive violin she could find (since Rei had cluelessly admitted that she knew how to play one), along with all the periphery stuff a violinist would ever need. Finally completely wiped out but grinning hugely, the redhead also went to sleep with the sure knowledge that Gendo Ikari became 25.5 million yen poorer then this morning.

Still, now Asuka suffered for such a late night, since she was completely sleep deprived, on a Monday, with an Angel attack currently happening, no less.

Quickly rushing down the stairs, followed by Ayanami and contemplating whether she'd have the time for a stiff cup of coffee before launch, the redhead decided that sometimes, she really hated the Angels. They could ruin a day like nobody else.

* * *

"Ok, Asuka, we're unsure of this Angel's capabilities, we only know that it's AT Field is incredibly strong." Misato rattled off through the com, as the girl franticly went through the last steps of synchronization procedure (Shinji was a bit panicky, so the going was a bit more slow then usually).

"We'll be launching you into grid D-11. You've got the armament buildings here, here and here, and a cover catapult here." The markers obediently popped up on the virtual map, following the tactician's keystrokes.

"Since the Magi aren't coming to a conclusion about pretty much anything concerning the Agnel," Misato continued, pausing only to inhale another lungful of cigarette smoke, "I want you to probe it first. We'll send a positron rifle as soon as you reach surface, so duck and cover, circle back to the A28 building here, retrieve the rifle and fire a controlled shot at the target's middle. We think that's where it's core is, but we aren't sure, so be ready retreat if we're wrong or if you can't neutralize the AT field."

"It's almost five kilometers away, Misato," Asuka scowled, still quite cranky from the lack of sleep, "of course I won't be able to neutralize it's field."

"Yes, we know that." Akagi jumped in, "But you should be able to erode the phase variance to some degree and we hope the positron rifle will be able to punch the rest of the way through."

"You know, that whole 'we hope' thing isn't really confidence-inspiring." Asuka commented wryly, gripping the control yokes a bit tighter in anticipation, "But whatever. Pop up, hide, get the rifle, nail it, run away if it doesn't work. Got it. Any other brilliant ideas?"

Akagi scowled at the sarcasm, but didn't respond, turning to her team instead, who were meanwhile apparently trying to brainstorm the problem, while Misato threw away the cigarette butt over her shoulder and lit another one.

"If it doesn't work," the purple-haired woman corrected patiently, "you retreat and take up position here, at the armament building F14, where you'll wait for it to approach to a distance of 1 kilometer, then you'll engage again. We'll deploy the chaingun there, as well as the progressive spear for close quarters. The Angel ignored pretty much everything the JSSDF threw at it and didn't demonstrate any kind of offensive potential, so we think it may just hide behind the AT field and not even react to you at all. That's your chance to get in close and hit it hard. Unit 00 will be on standby in case you need reinforcements."

"Bah. As if I'll need reinforcements." Asuka scowled, shaking off the sudden and very much unwelcome memory of Shamshel slamming his plasma arms through her torso. The feeling hadn't been pleasant.

"Ok, then. We'll launch you in 1 minute, so get ready." Misato nodded, then shut off the com window, leaving the girl alone for the moment.

"Well, Shinji, you with me for this?" the redhead inquired into the LCL.

"_Yeah, of course I am."_ The presence answered, trying to seem confident but failing miserably.

"Oh, come on, Third Child, buck up. It's not like you feel pain when the Eva gets damaged, is it?" Asuka snorted. In fact, the question had bothered her for quite some time now, but for some reason she never asked Shinji about it before, just figuring that since he wasn't reduced to a quivering wreck by the injuries the Eva sustained against Shamshel, he didn't really _feel _them.

The only answer she received was silence.

"_Right?_" She tried again.

"_Well, not really. I mean, you take the brunt of…"_ Shiji hesitantly begun, only to be interrupted by Misato's command of "Eva Unit 01 launch!".

* * *

As the redhead sped up to the surface, pressed into her seat and very thankful that the LCL dampened the acceleration forces considerably, the chatter over the com suddenly grew more frantic.

"Energy reading detected along the target's equator!"

"It's amassing upon itself and converging at the epicenter!"

"Asuka! Look out!"

Only thanks to her almost full decade of training was the girl able to react to the warning and dodge, but overcoming the G-force and ripping out the shoulder restraints took an almost inhuman effort. The Eva leaned to the right sharply, scuffing it's head and leaving a long trench on the tunnel wall, which made the last second of ascent to the surface decidedly unpleasant, but Asuka didn't mind it at all, since a beam of pure energy five meters in diameter slammed through the spot where the Eva's chest would have been, had it been erect, melting through the catapult wall in less then a nanosecond and leaving a perfectly circular hole behind, at least, until the metal began to flow down freely, superheated by the insane amount of energy Ramiel put into it's attack.

"No offensive potential, my ass!" the girl screamed, ripping out the leg restraints and forcing the Eva to jump and roll to the side, barely avoiding another beam that melted a building behind her. Only now she noticed that her left arm and side were in considerable pain, as if coming in contact with an overheated oven.

_If that thing hit me… Shit!_

"Another energy reaction!"

Scrambling Unit 01 to it's feet, the young pilot cursed savagely and made a mad dash towards the designated armament building where the positron rifle was waiting for her.

Ramiel didn't let her get there, firing off another beam that bit into the street right in front of her, causing the nearby buildings to warp and begin dripping down into the hole the deathray left behind.

Rushing forwards and then taking a sharp left, Asuka managed to avoid another shot, innerly thanking the old and incredibly stern Russian colonel that instructed her on how to avoid sniper fire in open field when she was eight.

Taking another sharp left, then suddenly changing her heading to the opposite direction, the purple Eva crashed down into a crouch behind the building holding Asuka's positron rifle, only to have it begin melting immediately as the Angel hit it with a continuous beam. Thankfully, the densely armored building yielded much more slowly, giving the redhead the seconds she needed to throw her Eva prone onto the ground and roll to the side, narrowly avoiding the insane flow of accelerated particles that finally chewed through the armament building and lanced past her shoulder, causing her own skin to feel as if she spent all day on the beach without sunscreen.

"Asuka, retreat to G5!" Misato's frantic shout sounded over the com, but a bit too late, since the Angel took the second it needed to line up it's next shot properly, hitting Unit 01 while it was rising to it's feet. The beam's energy was met with a sudden strob of orange hexagon, all that Asuka could manage in the short nanosecond she had left and was reduced considerably, but still tore past the barrier and hit Unit 01 squarely in the chest, throwing it back down onto the street and leaving a gaping burn surrounded with dripping molten pieces of purple armor on it's sternum.

"It's firing again!"

"Energy output has increased by 15%!"

Asuka let out a sharp growl of pain, but didn't loose her focus and rolled to the side yet again, missing the finishing shot by no more then a dozen of meters. Continuing roll until she hit some unfortunate building in the process, the young girl sprang to her feet, this time meeting the shot with her AT field, now completely deployed. All it managed to do was deflect the beam a few degrees to the side, leaving her hands feeling as if she'd stuck them into a fireplace.

_Fuck. Where's the nearest retreat catapult?_

The answer came to her too late, since Ramiel, as if to show that he was done playing, hit Asuka with another continuous beam that destroyed the thick armor plate disguised as a piece of the street that Misato had shot up in a futile attempt to protect her within a second and met her AT field yet again. This time, whether because the Angel put a lot more power into the shot, or because of it's hit angle, it wasn't deflected even one bit and, thought considerably reduced in strength, dug into Unit 01's stomach, melting the armor and digging into the softer tissue beneath, intent to disembowel the giant mecha.

The pain was so great Asuka couldn't resist a cry, futilely struggling to reinforce the AT field. It was helping, but not much, since Ramiel, having noticed that he had finally hit the elusive target, poured more power into the lance of energy.

_Shit. I can't die here. I still haven't told Kaji how I feel about him!_

The sudden and out of place thought seemed so ridiculous that Asuka wanted to laugh out, her vision going black on the edges from the pain she was feeling. The energy beam finally punched through the Eva's stomach and hit the street behind her, but Ramiel apparently wasn't done with her, since the energy lance begun _moving,_ shifting higher up and leaving a trail of molten armor in it's wake, until it was centered right in the middle of her chest, as if sensing where the entry plug was.

The continuous shouts on the comm channel took on a much louder pitch, Misato frantically calling out something Asuka couldn't hear. Why couldn't she hear it? Everything was so hot… LCL was almost boiling…

_Damn it. Seems that this is it, then. _

'_ASUKA!'_

The blackness swallowed her, for which Asuka was eternally grateful.

* * *

Blue eyes snapped open and stared at the white ceiling incomprehensively. The girl just lay there, quietly contemplating what the hell was taking St. Peter so long, until the pain caught up with her and she hissed sharply, raising her hand to her stomach, where the burning originated from. Ah. Synchronization pain. Nothing to worry about, then. Only now Asuka noted that her hand was bandaged.

Waiting a moment until the feeling of her abdomen being stabbed over and over with a rusty knife subsided, the redhead pushed herself up a bit, until she was in a sitting position, then took stock of her injuries.

Her right arm was covered in some kind of thin skintight gauze, but didn't hurt at all. Her left arm was in the same state, and as the girl felt at her face, she discovered that it too was completely concealed behind the thin material. Peeling a bit off her right forearm, where a seam was visible, Asuka risked a peak and saw that her skin was beat red and the spot she uncovered immediately started itching maddeningly. Quickly replacing the strange material and continuing her study, the redhead discovered that she was, in fact, no longer a redhead. Her head was bald, that's why it felt so light. It was bald. Her hair was gone. Resisting the urge to cry (_Big girls don't cry over stuff like that they don't cry at all_ _they don't_), the young pilot peeled open her hospital gown to find that her whole body was covered in the same mysterious material as her hands. It was so light and snug that she didn't even notice.

What the hell happened?

As if an answer to her question, the door opened to let in Ayanami Rei with a tray of food in her hands and a infinitely small frown of concern on her face.

"Pilot Sohryu." The albino said, managing to convey relief without changing her tone by so much as half a decibel and completely foregoing inflection.

"First, what the hell? What happened? Why am I bald? What happened to the Angel?" the former redhead rushed out, swinging her legs to the side of the bed and putting them onto the floor.

The other girl walk over, putting the tray down onto the bedside table, and took a seat in the conveniently positioned chair.

"You were retrieved from Unit 01 five hours ago, having suffered second and third degree burns all over your body as a result to LCL boiling inside the entry plug due to the energy beam's intensity, after which you were placed into the reanimation capsule, where medical treatment had been administered. Your complete epidermal cover, as well as most of your alveoli had to be regenerated."

_That explains the lack of hair then. _Was Asuka's first shocked thought. All of her skin had to be regenerated. Shit. She'd been boiled alive. _Shit._

Ayanami continued, undeterred.

"The Angel, having suffered no damage, has positioned itself over the geo-front and is attempting to infiltrate it via a drill 17.5 meters in diameter. Estimated time to break through is 4 hours 43 minutes."

Now the albino fell silent, as if giving Asuka time to process the information. So, she had been boiled in her entry plug, that she still remembered, vaguely, then somehow got from being fried alive on the streets of Tokyo 3 down to the geo-front, where they managed to put her back together. Now, the question was…

"How the hell did they retrieve me? I don't remember." The girl muttered in confusion, causing Rei to nod.

"Unit 01 went berserker as soon as you lost consciousness, hurled one of the damaged buildings at the target, then retreated by jumping down the shaft of one of the destroyed armament repositories and thus arriving at the geo front, where it proceeded at a fast run to it's designated cage, ejected the entry plug and shut down, allowing the recovery crew access."

So, now the debt she owed to the Third Child had doubled. Still, Asuka couldn't really be pissed with him, seeing that she didn't find being burned alive very pleasant. She could be pissed with him because he didn't do it sooner, though.

"What of Unit 01?" the german inquired after a second of contemplation.

"It has sustained heavy tissue damage in the abdominal area and has lost 86% of it's front armor. Also, the head armor became dented during your evasive action at the beginning of your deployment." Rei reported, calm as a cucumber, "The hand and leg armor was damaged during the descend to the geo front, but has already been replaced. The Unit will be combat ready within approximately 2 hours, but will not be able to function to it's full capacity."

Asuka nodded at this, then stood up, testing her feet. Everything was functioning normally so far, apart from the fact that she was wrapped up in ugly gauze from head to toe and bald to boot, so the girl tried a few stretches, until she was comfortable again, and turned to Ayanami expectantly.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked, taking a seat on her bed again.

The albino, apparently having waited for this, pulled out a small note book out of her school bag.

"Operation Yashima will begin at midnight and will consist of…"

* * *

After the blue-haired girl left, leaving a new red plug suit on Asuka's bed, the young german finally allowed her face to crumble, hidden by the white material as it was.

_Gott, I almost died._

Hands shaking slightly, Asuka hugged herself, trying to suppress the shiver, her mind suddenly back in the entry plug as the LCL begun boiling around her, searing her skin off…

_Huh? When did I… _

Uncurling from the foetal position she found herself in and sitting up, Asuka stared blankly at the wall for a second, then threw a look at the clock on the bedside table. She'd been like that for ten minutes.

_Not so glamorous anymore, is it?..._

_

* * *

_

The new entry plug, it's paint and untouched metal still gleaming in the bright light of Unit 01's cage, tilted upwards sharply, then was lowered into the waiting mecha's back, where the heavy armor plates sealed over, leaving Asuka, bald head, face and neck still wrapped in the material Akagi told her was there to dull her sense of touch until the new skin finished adjusting, alone for the moment.

The cacophony of lights flashed before her, revealing the usual display of the Eva's ocular perception and a maddeningly flashing blue ball of fire that almost rushed her, overflowing with a feeling of concern.

'_Asuka! Are you alright? They wouldn't tell me anything, I had to burn through Balthazar's circuits to know that you were alive at all! Please tell me you're alright!'_

"Jeez, Third," Asuka grinned cockily, leaning back and suddenly feeling much more relaxed then she had in the last hour, "Chill. I'm completely fine, if a little burnt up. It'll take much more to off the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu, you know."

'_Oh thank god." _The boy sobbed in relief, lacking the eyes to actually cry but still managing nonetheless.

"Hey, come on." the pilot tried, awkwardly, unprepared for the flood of emotion the male soul was displaying, "You're a boy, you know. Hey! Stop crying, damn it!"

'_I ca-can't he-help iiit!'_

"Damn it, Third, get a grip." The girl scowled, "I'm completely fine, so stop bawling and act like a machine of mass destruction! What the hell took you so long to get me out of there, anyways?"

The quiet mental feeling of someone sobbing into her shoulder started subsiding gradually, but much too slowly, so Asuka took the time to march the cyborg to the catapult and allowed the tech crew to run their last pre-start checks, feeling decidedly awkward all the way there.

"Well, I'm still waiting for an answer. Why the hell didn't you pull that stunt with diving down an open shaft earlier? Could've spared me my hair, you know." The girl inquired again when Shinji finally managed to compose himself.

'_S-sorry. I can't take complete control when you're conscious." _He whispered meekly, still obviously distraught, causing Asuka to frown in confusion, until she remembered that her entry plug pretty much was stuck into the Eva's equivalent of the spine, thus probably filtering any orders the Evangelion's head was sending to the rest of it's body.

"Oh." Was all she said, since that was pretty much all she could say without making a fool of herself even more, then run her hand over her head, where the hair should have been.

"Damn it. Do you have any idea how long it took to grow my hair that long? I'm gonna friggen massacre that Angel now." The girl glowered darkly, finally finding a target for her ire. Shinji's ball of blue fire stopped all movement and just hung in front of her, as if incredulous.

"_Asuka, you've been burned almost to death,"_ the boy finally managed, tone echoing with disbelief and reluctant admiration, _"and you worry about your hair?"_

"Hey, a girl's gotta have her priorities, you know." The young woman grinned, ruthlessly suppressing the sudden memory of the unbearable heat.

Shinji was silent for a second, as if trying to process his pilot's insane logic.

"_I was about to let the Eva absorb you, you know."_ He quietly admitted, causing the girl to jerk up, suddenly remembering quite a few of her nightmares.

"_If you'd died, I would've, too."_ The boy forged on, either not able to see her scowl or choosing to ignore it, _"When you lost consciousness, I was about to…"_

"Listen up, Third," Asuka grated out, slow and deliberately cruel, "You don't, I repeat, don't ever try to absorb me, you got that? I had nightmares for weeks after Akagi told me about what really happened to you, so I'd rather die then be stuck inside the friggen thing with a whiny loser like you as the only company, you got that?"

Her only answer was silence, the blue handful of flame hovering in one spot before her, as if slapped, then it too disappeared, causing the entry plug to appear much dimmer then before, despite the bright yellow interior lighting.

_**Fine.**_

The boy's voice almost boomed, suppressed rage giving the one word a strange undertone of foreboding.

"Asuka, what happened? Your synch ration just sunk to 74%." Akagi's face appeared on the suddenly much less sharp screen in front of the girl, who only scowled back at the doctor.

"Yeah, give me a minute." The german said, switching off the comm channel and shivering slightly as the LCL temperature unexpectedly plummeted.

"Oh come on, Third." The girl scoffed, waving her hand through the much murkier fluid around her, "It was nothing against you, ok?"

Ikari Shinji didn't answer.

"Look, Ikari, get over yourself, I didn't mean it like that." Asuka tried again, looking around the plug and shifting in her seat, finding herself increasingly uncomfortable in the now almost frigid environment.

Not so much as a peep from the male soul. No increase of LCL temperature. No better view on the optical screen. No comfortable presence around the plug. Only hard metal contours and cold mechanical sound of the LCL filters. Even the control yokes suddenly felt slightly heavier to move around.

"Well, fine then." The girl scowled, "Not like I need _you _anyways."

Opening the channel to the command bridge, Asuka shrugged nonchalantly.

"Seems that's all you're gonna get today, Dr. Akagi." She commented, "The Eva isn't cooperating."

Misato cursed savagely and lit a cigarette with a jerky movement.

"And just before launch too." She mumbled, then turned to the bandaged face of her charge.

"Well, we'll have to do with what we have. Your synch ratio is still higher then Ayanami's so you're still the shooter. Get into position, eject and wait until 23:15. Ayanami's already waiting for you."

Asuka nodded sharply, closing the com channel, then let out an arrogant huff into the LCL around her and gripped the control yokes tighter.

'Stupid Ikari. As if I'd need him. I'm good enough on my own, anyways.'

* * *

The huge JSSDF positron canon hummed loudly with the insane amount of energy being pumped into it from all over Japan, dozens of nuclear power plants running in a barely safe mode to provide humanities' only hope with enough energy for one decisive strike against the alien invader that floated calmly over the blasted streets of Tokyo 3 where not 10 hours ago it tried to kill a 14-year old girl by frying her alive.

Said 14 year old girl was currently sitting in her command chair, within the confines of Unit 01's entry plug, grinning savagely as the Evangelion's targeting interface showed a clear lock on her torturer's middle. The sight of the perfectly symmetrical octahedron in her reticule was almost as sweet as a bar of chocolate, and the only downside was that she had no one to share her elation at the upcoming victory with. Unit 01 had remained silent all the while, Shinji apparently having crawled back into whatever hole inside the Eva's neural net from whence he came before to sulk, refusing to even acknowledge his pilot. Bah, stupid idiot.

Who needed him anyways.

Switching on the com channel to Unit 00, Asuka grinned broadly at the calm albino, who just stared back at her with a small frown of concentration on her face.

"Well, whatcha think first? Think the Angels feel pain? I sure hope so!" Asuka cackled, her still bangaded face splitting into a large grin. Rei slowly raised her perfectly shaped blue eyebrow in confusion.

Well, ok, Asuka admitted, perhaps Shinji had been a better conversationalist then the blue-haired stoic girl, but she'd do with what she got.

"Pilot Sohryu, does causing pain… please you?" Ayanami wondered, somehow making her comment sound like absolutely innocent curiosity and making Asuka's grin fade a little.

"Well, uh, no, not really. Only if it's an angel. Or if it's someone who tried to burn me alive." The young german answered a bit lamely, nevertheless causing Ayanami to nod in understanding.

"I see." The blue-haired girl said, carefully adjusting her Eva's position so the heat-shield from a former space-shuttle was leaning against the ground slightly.

"As our target responds positively to both of your criteria, would I be correct in assuming that you would enjoy it's pain doubly so?"

Damn, Asuka thought, Rei was making her sound like a sadist without even trying.

"Ok, ok, First, I got your point, no need to rub it in."

"I do not understa…"

"Sheesh, give it a rest, already!" Asuka grumbled, making a minor adjustment on her targeting computer. The command channel was currently abuzz with activity, the techs still checking the last connection stage before the operation's begin, so she could allow herself to simply tune out the annoying sound of technicians shouting one over the other.

"So," the former redhead continued, "you got any experience with that thing?"

Rei looked at her heat-shield and nodded calmly, "Yes. I have extensive simulation experience with all of the Evengelion weaponry and equipment. You need not worry, Pilot Sohryu, I will not fail in my duty to protect you."

"Jeez, Rei," Asuka sighted, "It' isn't your 'duty' to protect me! I can manage myself just fine. We've talked about it, didn't we?"

Obidiently Ayanami nodded, reciting from memory, "It was not my failure that caused my injury. I am not responsible for the death of Pilot Ikari. I am also not responsible for providing protection for the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu."

The Great Asuka Langley Sohryu nodded in satisfaction at her work well done, but was stopped short as Rei continued,

"Nevertheless, it is my wish to ensure your safety, for you have shown me something I can only classify as kindness."

"Oh jeez." The german exhaled, more tired then pissed off. Whoever brainwashed Ayanami Rei, did so quite throughtly. Unless…

"You aren't a lesbian, are you?"

"What is a lesbian, Pilot Sohryu?"

"Forget…" Asuka mumbled, putting a hand out in front of her, "I said…. Anything. OK?"

"As you wish, Pilot Sohryu."

"Sorry to interrupt the lovely chat," Misato's snide voice sounded over the com, "but the operation is a go in 90 seconds. Prep the fuse, Asuka."

"Ok, ok, shees." The girl in question mumbled, slightly embarrassed. When she was talking with Shinji, the command staff wasn't able to pick up any sound of the conversation unless she addressed them directly and Asuka had grown used to the fact that whatever was said inside the plug had been private. Now, apparently, it wasn't any longer.

"Fuse inserted, initiating warm up of the plasma chamber." Maya Ibuki reported, diligently typing away on her keyboard, followed by Aoba's "Initiating charge. Ready to fire in 10, 9, 8…"

Asuka concentrated, enforcing her own perception over the Evangelion, making it's eyes her eyes, it's fingers her fingers, it's senses her senses. She was in control damn it, Shinji or no Shinji, and she'd be damned if she had to rely on that whiny loser. So what if her synch ratio was only 78% tops? It was still enough to get the job done.

The charge indicator turned green, followed by a quiet beep from the targeting computer reporting that all factors have been calculated in.

"Ready to fire." She whispered, taking a deep breat, followed immideatley by a loud "Fire!" from Misato.

She squeezed the trigger.

* * *

The bright ray consisting only of supercharged positrons, screamed out of the gun's muzzle promising mutual annihilation with a lot of exotic particles as byproducts to any electrons it came in contact with, soared through the night sky, covering the 15-kilometer distance in less then a nanosecond, punched through the Angel's AT-field with impressive ease…

To meet the Angel's answering shot, the magnetic field keeping the positrons from spreading repelling from another magnetic field, changing direction slightly, channeling the particles a few degrees to the side…

"Missed!" Asuka hissed in disappointment, observing as her shot careened up and to the right, missing the Angel completely and continuing onwards through the sky at an angle.

"Cooling the barrel!" Huyga snapped out, his fingers typing on his station with abandon, even as Asuka ordered her Eva to quickly change the fuse and realigned her targeting computer with a thought.

"High energy reaction detected!" Ibuki all but shouted, watching as on her screen, Ramiel unhurriedly turned a few meters until it's corner pointed directly at Asuka's position, then let the light of his upcoming shot play along it's equator, converging into one impossibly bright pinprick of light…

Asuka froze. She wasn't afraid to admit it. The bright light was very much visible at this distance, and she knew it in her bones that it was about to shoot towards her in a lance of pure annihilation, to finally erase the all-too-lucky pray once and for all. She watched as with impossible slowness, the ray of light traveled straight at her, bringing with it the unbearable heat that had already once seared the skin off her…

To be interepted by the dark siluette of another Eva, a large shield raised defiantly in front of it.

_Ayanami!_

"Ten more seconds!" Aoba's shout jerked her out of her shock and the girl quickly threw a look at her targeting display, where the reticule was slowly moving towards the rectangle in the middle.

"Five!"

Gritting her teeth, the girl concentrated once more, innerly counting down seconds, as before her eyes, Unit 00 was slowly starting to melt…

"Two, One…"

"Fire!"

She squeezed the trigger.

* * *

The purple behemoth held it's orange brother up, the former's free hand madly tearing off pieces of molten armor off the later's back, until, finally, the white of the entry plug could be seen. Abandoning a chunk of useless metal and ignoring her own protesting hands that felt like they had blistered from touching the orange giant, Asuka ripped the thin capsule out and clutched it to her Eva's chest as she rushed towards the lake she had admired only an hour ago, where she carefully but quickly deposited it into shallow water and ordered her own entry plug to eject.

"Scheisse, scheisse, scheisse…"

Climbing down from the kneeling Unit 01 proved to be a rather difficult task, but the girl had managed, covering the distance to the white and steaming capsule in less then a minute and wrenching open the hatch despite her plugsuit's plastic melting slightly from the still not completely dispersed heat. Inside, the LCL had already been vented and the pale figure of Ayanami Rei was lying in her command chair, apparently uninjured, but motionless.

Cursing once more, the young german dragged the First Child's dead weight out and dumped the girl into the shallow water of the lake, then dragged it away from the capsule as quickly as possible.

"Come on, First, wake up already!"

"Pilot Sohryu…"

Quickly abandoning the efforts of getting Rei as far away from the still steaming hot entry plug at once and leaning over Ayanami's face, the bald girl discovered that Rei was apparently completely fine and already attempting to rise on her own, thought not very successfully.

Finally having stood up, thought leaning onto Asuka's offered shoulder for support, Ayanami Rei stared out onto Tokyo 3, in the middle of which, the carcass of Ramiel burned cheerfully, emmiting huge plumes of black smoke.

"Pilot Sohryu, I discovered that the pain of a being that attempted to end me through intense amounts of heat does indeed cause a pleasurable feeling." The First Child commented with a completely serious face, starring fixedly at the felled adversary and causing Asuka to almost drop her.

* * *

"Well, that's it with the debriefing, for now." Misato closed her paper file and smiling at both pilots, "Go home, relax, rest and so on. You get tomorrow and the day after off from school, and Asuka, you have to drop by the medical ward, to get the epidermal support removed. There's not much we can do about the hair, thought, so you'll have to tough it out. Good job, both of you."

Nodding tiredly, and scowling at the captain for her comment, Asuka bid goodbye to Rei, who went ahead, and started on her way towards the Nerv's geofront hospital, only to run into Dr. Akagi upon leaving the briefing room.

"Ah, Asuka, nice job out there." The blonde smiled tiredly, throwing a glance at her clipboard (Asuka suspected that the woman slept with the damn thing), "Whatever you problem with the synch ratio was, I'm glad that you sorted it out."

The bald girl frowned in confusion.

"Eh?" she finally queried intelligently, causing Akagi's smile to widen.

"Oh, you didn't even notice? You synch ratio was at the usual 150% from the moment you took your first shot."

And suddenly, being bald didn't bother Asuka as much anymore.

Author's Notes:

Thank you everyone for your kind reviews. Hopefully the next update won't take that long. I'm still looking for a beta, so if someone has the time, I'd greatly apreciate it.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Notes: My most sincere thanks for your support. Also please extend your gratitude to BlueGlass54, who undertook the difficult task of pre-reading this chapter and fighting through my inaptitude concerning english language, which can be seen from the imroved quality of this chapter._

_Disclaimer: Standart disclaimer applies.  
_

Chapter 4._  
_

People, as Asuka had recently found out, stared. Apparently there was some infinitesimally small string of DNA coded into every person's genome that ordered the usually composed and serious people to stare with slack jaw and boggled eyes at everything they figured wasn't usual. Such as her bald head.

Slamming down her schoolbag and plumping heavily onto her seat, glaring at anyone who still couldn't avert his or her eyes (and that was pretty much everyone in class, including the Suzuhara moron, who had, apparently, already recovered from his broken leg. If Asuka didn't owe her life to the miracles of modern medicine, she'd have hated it with a passion.) and finding out that her glare didn't have its former power because she lacked eyebrows, the Eva pilot admitted that perhaps wearing a wig wouldn't have been as cowardly as she thought earlier.

But, noo, her pride had demanded that she go to class with the sun reflecting off her smooth head in a perverse show of what exactly protecting all the sheep had cost her. Not that she'd want their pity or anything.

Now the girl was quite ready to have her pride amputated.

The only one who didn't react at all to her new, errr, 'hairstyle', for the lack of better term, was Ayanami, but that was no consolation at all since Rei wouldn't have reacted to an N2 detonation in front of her nose and because the First Child had already seen her like that.

Just great, the sensei was also staring. Wasn't he, like, really nearsighted?

Throwing Hikari a murderous look that managed to snap the class rep out of her slack-jawed bewilderment and try getting the class into some semblance of order, Asuka leaned back onto her seat and forcibly tried to relax. So what if she was bald and didn't have her glorious red hair (which had been the envy of _every single girl_ at school) anymore? She'd been friggen boiled in LCL while protecting every single one of those stupid, staring, whispering people…

The desk creaked pitifully and she quickly unclenched her hands, which, she noticed, were attempting to strangle the tabletop, so hard had they been clenched.

Calm. She had to remain calm. The Commander, god strike him down with syphilis, had already cut her allowance to the quarter of it's normal size for this month (the other shoe for her impromptu shopping trip with Rei had dropped yesterday), and if she were to kill all of her classmates, she'd probably not get anything at all by the thirty-first, so she had to find her center and stay calm…

Oh, and the baka Ikari stupid Shinji was still not talking to her, though he had finally deigned to push up her synch ratio during the synch test… Calm. She would be calm. She was a mature, responsible, adult person and she would not be angered by mere whisperings of her juvenile classmates and pouting from her equally juvenile wingman…

"Psst, Sohryu! Nice haircut!" Suzuhara's whisper drifted towards her from the other end of the classroom, where his grinning face was smiling smugly at her…

A loud snap startled everyone in the classroom and caused sensei to drop his glasses he was cleaning a second ago. It echoed through the whole school corridor, announcing to everyone who heard it that Asuka Langley Sohryu had broken her quite sturdy, solid wood, relatively new desktop into two halves with her bare hands.

* * *

"Come on, Asuka, it's nothing, the sensei said the desk was already old, so you won't be punished for it." Hikari tried to calm her companion who bit into her cafeteria sandwich with enough power to bite through solid steel.

"He probably said it cuz he thought I'd snap his neck next." The former redhead mumbled, "It's not like I just woke up and thought 'Hey! Why don't I shave my hair and eyebrows off?' At least they could be more discreet! I mean, isn't that what you Japanese people are known for?"

The class rep took a cautious seat near her friend and patted her on the shoulder lightly.

"Don't worry, they'll forget all about it by tomorrow. I mean, when Kyoko showed up with green highlights, everyone stared too, but now no-one's bothered at all!"

The cardboard juice container sputtered pitifully as it was crushed in Asuka's clenched fist.

"Can we not talk about _hair_?" the pilot glowered, causing Hikari to jerk away from her quickly, as if burned.

"Ok, no hair talk!" the class rep quickly confirmed, holding up her hands in surrender and watching her friend wearily, as if expecting a sudden lunge, which, considering the circumstances, wouldn't have been all that unexpected.

Finally throwing the ruined juice box away and lamenting her lack of money to buy herself another, Asuka stuffed the rest of her sandwich into her mouth and finally felt herself relax a little.

"So," Hikari asked hesitantly, "How did it happen, anyways?"

"I got fried in my entry plug by the last Angel," Asuka commented darkly, then continued, ignoring the class rep's horrified gasp, "They had to re-grow all of my skin, since it got boiled off, and that included hair as well. I'll have to grow it out again."

Silence met her admission, the gentle (well, at least when off-duty) class rep simply not knowing what to say, until Asuka's attention was distracted by quiet whispering coming from behind the school wall the girls' bench was positioned at. And the young pilot didn't like what she was hearing.

* * *

"Come on, Ken, _are you insane?_" Suzuhara Toji whispered franticly, staring in horror at his friend, who was grinning happily and counting the yen he had received from another satisfied customer.

"Chill, Toji, her being bald is the best thing that's happened in the last three weeks!" the bespectacled boy crowed; "Now everyone wants to know if she's shaved down there too! It's great for business, everyone just can't get enough of her!"

"You did see that she broke the friggen desk _with her bare hands_, didn't you?" the sportsuit wearing boy inquired with reluctant admiration for such an act of strength.

"Phish-posh," Kensuke dismissed with a wave of his hand, while carefully storing the money into his trouser pocket, "I mean, so she's freaky strong. It's not like she'd assault me, she's got the whole 'military personnel can't assault civilians' clause hanging over her, so I'm pretty much in the clear. Why're you looking at me like that?"

Under Toji's horrified gaze two feminine hands that not an hour before had committed grievous harm to an innocent piece of furniture were softly placed onto his best friend's shoulders, causing Kensuke's head to turn around almost robotically to stare at the smiling eyebrow-less face of Sohryu Asuka Langley. Neither of the boys liked that smile very much. Behind the former redhead, Hikari crossed her arms over her chest and demonstratively turned her head as if showing that she wasn't seeing anything that was about to happen.

"Boys," the insane bald demon hissed out, still somehow maintaining her smile that now reminded Toji of an Oni's maw, "boys, _boys._ Did you know that two days ago, I got a very unique experience on what it feels like to be burned to death? Only to find that now you're selling pictures of me?"

Toji felt a bead of cold sweat run down his back, staring in horror as the demon somehow smiled even wider.

"Money."

Kensuke's hand movements were a blur as he proffered his money bag towards the clearly unstable demonic entity.

"Negatives. And pictures."

The process was repeated with surgical precision.

"And _now,_" the bald hell-beast hissed, her hands tightening over Kensuke's scrawny neck, only to be interrupted by her cellphone emitting a cheerful beep. Nonplussed, Sohryu pulled it out and flipped the lid open.

"This isn't over by a long shot," she commented with a hint of disappointment after reading the message, then proceeded away at a sedate pace, Hikari trailing behind after giving both boys a rather disgusted look.

"Toji," Kensuke finally said after almost a minute of silence, "if I do something this stupid ever again, punch me. Hard."

* * *

"So," Asuka summed up in a slightly incredulous tone, while leaning back in her Eva's command chair and contemplating the grinning face of the now Major Katsuragi on the Eva's optic screen in front of her with a look that clearly stated that said Major was out of her mind, "you want me to get you onto a walking unstable nuclear reactor, that could explode at any moment, so that you can try to disable it from within? While I'm trying to restrain said reactor from walking towards a heavily populated city? Am I getting this right?"

The smiling face nodded eagerly, the large radiation suit's helmet bobbing a bit with the motion. The young girl closed her eyes and sighted deeply.

"You're insane, Misato." She finally breathed out, shaking her head, "But fine, whatever. I'll hold it in place for you as long as you like, but for the record, you're verfluht noch mal nuts and whoever made you major is even more nuts than you are, and that's saying something."

"Aw, don't worry about me, Asuka! Everything'll be fine!" Misato grinned, giving the girl a thumbs up gesture, causing the pilot to snort in amusement.

"Yeah, whatever. How far am I from the drop zone?"

"Twenty minutes, so sit tight there, Asuka. I'll tell you when you're getting close."

With a nod, the girl terminated the call link and sighted once more, snuggling into the command chair a bit for more comfort. The LCL was clear and at its usual warm temperature again, and the visual screen was once more crisp and sharp. The only thing missing was the voice of Ikari Shinji.

"Still not talking to me, I see," the girl commented tiredly, massaging her shoulders and not really expecting a response.

When only silence greeted her, Asuka leaned to the side and knocked with her knuckles against the capsule wall.

Knock-knock. Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock…

_"Cut it out already!"_ Shinji's mental presence almost shrieked, illuminating the plug with bright blue and transmitting the feeling that he was quite clearly glaring.

"Ah, there you are." Asuka smiled smugly, leaning back into the chair and putting her feet onto the control yokes, "And here I thought you were pouting somewhere, leaving your poor innocent pilot to fend off the aliens by herself."

_"What do you want?"_ Ikari spit out, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Look," Asuka expelled a lungfull of LCL in quiet frustration, "I'm sorry, ok? I panicked and said stuff I shouldn't have."

_"Oh, so now you want the whiny loser's company? I thought you'd rather die than be stuck with me?"_

"I didn't say that!" the girl scowled, "I said I'd rather die than be stuck in an Eva!"

_"That's not what I remember, Asuka! What the hell do you want, anyways?"_ Ikari's mental voice shouted, _"I'm helping you out on missions already! What more do you want?"_

There was a long pause, the girl struck dumb by the sudden vehemence and failing to come up with a reasonable, intelligent argument why she wanted him to stop being angry with her.

After almost a minute went by, the blue flame dimmed again and vanished with a mental sigh of disappointment, leaving behind only the sounds of LCL scrubbers.

After another minute Asuka blinked stupidly. Then she scowled.

"Well FINE!" the girl shouted, twisting around and kicking the capsule wall savagely, "I don't need you anyways, you jerk! I'm fine by myself! I was always by myself and I came through just fine without you, you idiot! I don't need anyone!"

No response was forthcoming, and her foot only throbbed in pain from kicking metal with her basically unprotected appendage (the plug suit was an incredibly comfortable and warm piece of clothing, but it lacked shoes), so the girl crossed her arms, still scowling, and settled into the command chair with a bit more force then was necessary, suppressing the sudden and unwelcome feeling of tears coming to her eyes.

"Stupid jerk."

* * *

"Ok, Asuka, put me down by the hatch!" Misato screamed through the com, causing the girl to lick her lips and, while maintaining the breakneck speed she was running at, grasp at the huge robot's back. Getting a good grip on a large Eva-sized handle-like protrusion, that had been conveniently provided, the girl tried to keep the charging Jet Alone in place, while carefully depositing her commanding officer onto the metallic amalgamation's back, near the barely visible access hatch.

After Misato disappeared inside the huge war machine, nearly falling off in the process, the girl accelerated and quickly overtook the struggling robot, placing the Eva's hands onto it's 'shoulders' and leaning against the still walking Jet Alone with all of Unit 01's considerable power and weight. The metallic ugly beast still attempted to push past her, even speeding up its steps, thought not having much success against the purple giant. After almost two minutes of the standoff steam started to escape through Jet Alone's neck, a clear sign of the reactor overheating.

"Damn it," the girl grumbled, pushing more firmly against the robot's attempts to advance and not knowing whether she should plug the hole in Jet Alone's fuselage to keep the steam from escaping and irradiating everything around or let the pressure out so the reactor didn't overheat even faster.

The standoff continued, with Jet Alone accelerating even more, pummeling the innocent ground below it with relentless steps and even forcing Unit 01 to slide back a few meters, until Asuka dug her Eva's feet more deeply into the earth.

"Jeez." The girl panted, "How much time does it take to enter a password!"

Another part of Jet Alone's fuselage got blown off and more steam rushed out, hissing ominously and causing the girl to curse savagely.

"OK, that's it!" the young german exclaimed, digging her fingers in and ripping Jet Alone's front armor off as if it was tissue paper, exposing its innards and causing the collected steam inside to rush out in a cloud.

"Maybe it'll cool it off a little!"

_"Asuka! LCL! Douse it with LCL!"_ Shinji cried frantically, watching as the radioactive steam floated around them.

"Baka! Where the hell do you see that much LCL here?" Asuka grunted, studying the revealed innards of the huge robot intently, looking for anything that could help her and suppressing the inner need to bitch Ikari out for his thoughtlessness before. As long as he was helping…

_"It's the Eva's blood!"_ the boy immediately answered, already throwing the prog knife hatch open, _"Just stab yourself in the palm or something!"_

Asuka, the light bulb finally coming on in her head, quickly grabbed the progressive blade and activated it, silently cursing herself for not thinking of the idea herself, then flipped the knife and grabbed it by the blade, where it dug into the palm's purple armor, quickly reached the bio-robot's flesh and equally quickly slashed it open. Clenching Unit 01's fist for good measure and suppressing a grimace at the neural feedback, which clearly told her she had just slashed open her own palm, the girl dropped the still-humming knife and put her LCL-gushing palm into the Jet Alone's mutilated sternum, hoping fervently that it'd work.

"Good idea, Ikari!"

_"Th-thanks!"_

Apparently, it did work, since the clouds of white steam billowing out of the malfunctioning machine were reduced to almost nothing after a minute, but the negative of that plan was soon presented in the form of Katsuragi Misato's very displeased voice.

"Asuka, what the hell are you doing! You've flooded the whole thing! You're lucky this suit's watertight!"

"Well, it helped, didn't it!" the girl snarked in response, straining to keep Jet Alone from moving with only one hand, when suddenly…

The ugly amalgamation shut down, toppling to the side and causing the surprised girl to just barely catch it and lower it down much more slowly.

"What the hell was that?" The girl muttered, addressing Misato, who, in turn, was silent.

"Beats me," the woman finally answered, "but it sure as hell wasn't me."

* * *

"Misuse of valuable Nerv resources, willful endangering of expensive and irreplaceable equipment, endangering of key personnel and disregard of safety procedures," Fuytsuki lectured, reading from the incident report with a look of distaste on his face, while the commander simply sat behind his desk, hands tented in front of his face, glaring at both Asuka and Misato.

The young german could almost hear Misato's quick return to the rank of captain approaching.

"Nevertheless," the sub-commander commented, finally putting the report down and studying both women with a piercing gaze, "the incident has been resolved in our favor, so we have decided to forgo disciplinary actions. Don't think, however, that we're pleased with your decisions, Major Katsuragi. Consider yourself on notice."

"Yes, sir." Misato briskly saluted, remaining at attention. The sub-commander's gaze traveled from her to Asuka.

"Pilot Sohyu," Fuyutsuki finally said, after studying her for a few seconds, "was it necessary to damage the Eva during the engagement? Your orders were to restrain Jet Alone, not disassemble it and flood it with LCL. Don't answer that," he quickly raised his hand when Asuka opened her mouth, "The question was purely rhetoric. Your actions, while they proved to be beneficial, were unnecessary and jeopardized the operation as a whole. You are also on notice, pending a review of you decisions. Dismissed, both of you."

As the women stormed out, the commander finally put his hands down onto the desk and sent a small, almost unnoticeable smirk towards Fuyutsuki.

"I wonder what they'd say, had they known about the whole operation."

"That's your problem, Ikari," The sub-commander grumbled, "you always wonder in hindsight. I stand by my opinion that the ops director should have been informed about the operation. Then we'd have been able to avoid the whole disaster." The old man ran his hand through his hair, pulling the report closer, "Unit 01's chest armor is a complete loss, heavily irradiated as it is, the left hand will take _two days_ to regenerate, and we now have a lawsuit over our heads for ripping their robot apart. That all could have been avoided had you not kept your cards too close to your chest. It was unnecessary and…"

The old man fell silent, noticing that Gendo apparently wasn't even listening. Resisting the urge to throw his hands up in frustration, the sub-commander readjusted his tie instead.

"So, how is the retrieval project coming along?" he said instead with a touch of irritation, causing his former student to smirk again.

"Poorly, as has been expected. Still, we should have a viable clone within the next two months, longer if we are met with more interruptions."

Only Gendo Ikari would call an attack from a huge extraterrestrial creature bent on the destruction of humanity an 'interruption'.

"Will Unit 01 be able to function, should we be successful?" Kozou inquired after a short pause, his tone truly curious. Ikari moved his shoulders in a barely perceivable shrug.

"Unknown. I have made arrangements to have Unit 02 transported here, should Unit 01 prove no longer useful. The Marduk initiative has" here, the commander's tone took on a mocking edge, "conveniently released a report on the Forth child."

"Indeed," Fuyutsuki nodded, smiling slightly, "Can't have an Evangelion just sitting around, can we?"

* * *

The Nerv cantina was a rather pleasant place, despite its lack of decorations and a very military feel. Still, the tables gleamed with stainless steel, and the padding on the chairs around said tables was rather soft and comfortable. The automated food dispensers were also a nice touch, avoiding the issue of having to see the food one was about to consume being cooked. The designers even took care to provide a feeling of privacy by arranging the tables at a considerable distance from one another.

One of these islands of privacy was currently occupied by two scowling females, one slurping angrily at her coffee and the other smoking savagely, both emanating a clear feeling of 'approach at your own peril'.

"At least he didn't dock my pay this time," Asuka muttered, putting her coffee cup down with excessive force and scowling angrily down at the table, the electric light gleaming off her bald head. Misato nodded with empathy, stamping out her cigarette butt and immediately lighting another, blatantly ignoring the 'No Smoking!' sing at the far wall.

"Tell me about it," she grumbled, "On notice, my ass. I'd like to see the aging butt-licker do any better."

Both women expelled a heavy sigh in amusing synchronization.

"This whole thing reeks of a set-up." The older woman grumbled, taking a deep drag and exhaling, while Asuka cocked an eyebrow, "I mean, first, the Jet Alone goes crazy during a demonstration? It's been double and triple-checked before they activated it. It wasn't even a first activation, they tested it before. And then the bloody thing won't accept the shutdown override code. And then it turns off on its own at the last minute? Very suspicious, if you ask me."

"Huh?" her charge scratched her bald head, "You mean someone sabotaged it?"

"Not someone." Misato leaned back on her chair and put one leg over the other, "I think Nerv did something to it."

The young girl thought it over for a minute.

"So," she begun, "you mean that the commander had it sabotaged, put the whole of Tokyo 2 in danger, as well as me, Unit 01 and you, only to get some good PR?"

"Well, no, I don't think you with Unit 01 or me should've been in the blast radius at all. I figure, it was supposed to rampage to Tokyo 2 and detonate, but they shut it down since we've messed up the plan. And before you say I'm nuts, remember, we're talking about the man who sent his own son to his death. He wouldn't have cared about anyone in the city."

Asuka digested this for a few minutes, trying to come to terms with the fact that she worked for a guy like that.

"Are you sure?" she finally asked, but Misato only shook her head at that.

"No," the woman answered, "I don't have any hard proof, if that's what you mean, but the whole deal is deeply suspicious."

"Hmm." Asuka mumbled, quite a bit unsettled, than grinned suddenly.

"Hey, doesn't that mean we just saved everyone in Tokyo 2? Aren't we like, even more awesome heroes, or something?"

"Yeah, heroes," Misato grumbled joylessly, "and now we're on notice for our trouble."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Once more I thank you sincerely for your support, dear readers. Please extend the same support to my poor pre-reader, _**BlueGlass54**_, who has probably already ripped out several chunks of his hair in frustration over reading this chapter's draft.

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

Chapter 5

"… and so, Misato figured the whole thing was a set up." Asuka finished, fiddling with her A-10 clip, one hastily redesigned to have a suction cap instead of a hair clip-on after Ramiel's attack.

The entry plug around her was illuminated by the familiar blue of Shinji's presence, the quiet sound of a heartbeat mixing with the sloshing of the LCL scrubbers.

"_Hmm, you know, I dunno why shit like that even surprises me anymore." _The boy sighted after a second of thought, obviously troubled over what she told him about the Jet Alone incident, _"I knew Father was a heartless bastard, but to want to blow up a whole city is a new low even for him."_

The girl nodded, still unsure how to proceed with the conversation.

It had been only a day after Misato's impromptu suicide mission into a walking nuclear reactor (and, of course, Asuka's last so-called 'free' day didn't release her from a synch test Akagi insisted on), and their relationship was still very much not at its best. Even now, the young pilot only managed to draw Shinji out by claiming she had 'important stuff' to talk about with him, so she was now weary of how to go on, a situation she was a bit unfamiliar with.

"_I'll try snooping around a bit," _the boy continued after a second or two of thought, voice tired, _"But I doubt anything'll turn up. I didn't catch so much as a hint of Magi hacking that thing's mainframe, so Akagi's limiting my access more than I thought."_

"You don't have to bother," Asuka sighted, putting her feet on the control yokes, "We can't really do anything about it even if you can get proof. Besides, isn't it better for you? No more worrying about competition from JSSDF?"

"_Oh thank you, Asuka. I'm so glad you think I'd rather see a city nuked than be decommissioned," _the boy snapped sarcastically, his tone becoming guarded. The pilot sighted heavily.

"I didn't mean it like that at all, Third," she lectured wearily, "I meant that now that the situation with Jet Alone is resolved, you don't have to worry about it anymore, that's all. Are you actively trying to be a jerk to me now, or what?"

"_Sorry," _the boy mumbled out reflexively, and Asuka sensed that he was about to go off sulking, so she quickly continued, not giving him the chance.

"Look, Ikari, I admit, I said some stupid thinks, ok? I even said I was sorry about it. There's no need to misinterpret every word coming out of my mouth now, just so you can justify being angry at me, you know."

Seeing the handful of blue flame flare up slightly, she hastily added, trying to soften her voice:

"What I'm trying to do here is be a good friend and give you a heads-up on what's going on outside, so you don't fall out of the loop, that's all. There's no need to be a bastard about it."

Silence dominated the entry plug for a minute, and the girl's shoulders slumped a bit, as if sensing that another attempt to make up with Ikari went wrong, when the boy answered.

"_Oh. S-sorry, I guess," _he stammered, as if unsure, _"It's just… I'm not very good at this. I never really had a lot of friends before."_

The girl's shoulders did slump, but in relaxation instead of defeat. For him to talk of such private matters meant that he forgave her (she _still _couldn't figure out why she wanted so much for him to forgive her in the first place, or why she wanted his company at all, for that matter, but still…).

"Just say 'apology accepted', baka," she grinned, albeit softly, her tone lacking its usual harshness.

* * *

"Oh? Really? The Fourth Child's been found?", Asuka took a more comfortable position on her sofa before the TV, clutching the remote in one hand and her mobile phone in the other and threw a look at Ayanami Rei, who too looked up from her ever-present book ("Divine Comedy", this time) at the unexpected news.

Both girls were relaxing after a rather tiring day full of school tests, synch tests, and more synch tests, since Akagi found another feedback error in Unit 00's CNS and needed Asuka to be there as a baseline sample to correct it. After almost full four hours in the plug, during which the young pilot amused herself by telling the Thrid Child a few stories from her time in Germany (the old camaraderie the pilot and the Eva shared before Ramiel quickly returning after them sort-of, kind-of making-up, making her synch tests much more enjoyable), they were released from Ritsuko's tender ministrations, but for Asuka, the day wasn't over by far, since the investigation into her actions during the Jet Alone incident two weeks ago took place immediately afterwards.

For another hour, the young girl had to stand at attention before the 'evaluation committee', consisting of the Commander, the Sub-Commander, Director of Operations and an aging JSSDF general who obviously was bored out of his mind, and justify her actions without lapsing into profanity. The challenge had been considerable.

Still, now all that was over and the girl was determined to get at least some enjoyment out of the day, thus the horror-flick orgy she was currently engaging in. Misato's call took her completely by surprise.

"Yes," the older woman's voice answered through the receiver, "Nerv-Germany finally caved in last week and they're shipping your Eva over by sea, so the Commander pushed the Marduk Institute to find him another pilot, as I understand it."

Asuka scratched her head, where the traces of her usual red had started to appear (and itch), trying to suppress a nest of mixed feeling the news woke in her.

"So I'm busted back into Unit 02 and the newb'll get to pilot Unit 01 then?" she asked, trying to sound casual. From the way Rei raised her eyebrow in bewilderment, she had failed.

"No, don't worry," her guardian laughed, "we decided that since the MP model is easier to operate the Fourth Child will be its designated pilot. We wouldn't want to separate you from your boyfriend," here Asuka scowled, but didn't rise to the bait, "Besides, Unit 01 has such an insanely high chance of activation failure, the Fourth probably won't be able to synch with it anyways. We have to fly in to oversee the shipment, though, so pack for a week or so; we're leaving tomorrow near noon."

Suppressing the feeling of relief, the young pilot shrugged her shoulders at the curious Ayanami (and Ayanami was indeed curious, since she still wasn't back to her reading).

"Well, Ok, I guess. Is Rei coming with us?"

"No, the commander insisted she stay here in case of an Angel attack." Misato denied, "But I thought I'd take the Fourth along, so you can catch him or her up on Unit 02. You do have almost a decade of experience with it and you'll have something to do for the trip."

"Well, ok then," the young girl shifted her position on the couch again, dropping the remote and lying on her back so that she was staring at the ceiling, "Who is the Fourth Child, anyways?"

There was some rustling on the other end, followed by a 'thump' and a cry of pain.

"Damn it!" Misato muttered, "I can't find the report in all this chaos. Fuyutsuki's still taking it out on me for Jet Alone, assigning me all this paperwork. That bastard. You'll just meet the kid tomorrow, I can't be bothered to search for the report right now."

"Well, fine, you slob," Asuka laughed, "Not that it matters anyways. As long as the newb behaves and knows who's boss everything'll be fine."

Saying her goodbyes to her guardian, the young pilot clicked her phone shut and turned to explain the news to her clueless roommate, who was actually tapping her finger on her book softly, a clear sign of impatience and overwhelming curiosity.

* * *

"Wha…!" was all Asuka could manage, staring at the lecherous face of her classmate and somewhat-nemesis Suzuhara Toji, her brain simply refusing to compute.

Suzuhara Toji, who was designated to pilot Unit 02.

"Hey, Sohryu!" the boy cheerfully exclaimed, a completely ridiculous cap over his head, his gaze never wavering from her guardian's impressive female assets, "Guess we're co-workers now!"

Suzuhara Toji was designated to pilot _Unit 02._

"Ah, there you are, Asuka!" the Major was equally cheerful and utterly obvious to the attention of one pubescent male, "Glad you're finally here. We've got to hurry, the chopper's already waiting."

_Suzuhara Toji _was designated to pilot _Unit 02!_

"B-but…" the young german stammered out, completely shocked by the mere possibility of Suzuhara, of all people, being in the same elite group of defenders of humanity as she was. The shock didn't last very long.

"I forbid it!" the girl screamed, scaring the crap out of a random Section 2 agent, who was walking past them towards the Geofront entrance. The poor sob actually jumped and reached for his gun before figuring out what was happening, than quickly inched away from the incensed girl.

"How can you! Of all the ridiculously stupid, moronic things you could've done, you've made _him _a pilot!" the girl ranted at the dumbfounded jock and a mildly amused major, "He's a dumb, egocentric, disgusting idiot! He'll get us all killed! He'll stare at my young innocent body with his perverted eyes during battle, instead of fighting!"

"Who'd want to stare at your scrawny tits anyways, Sohryu?" Suzuhara commented, his eyes not wavering from Misato's chest even an iota. Needless to say, after a comment like that, he should've seen the kick coming.

Shifting her gaze from the Fourth Child's crumpled and whimpering form to her seething charge, Misato shook her head in exasperation.

"Was that really necessary, Asuka?" she asked, then forged on, not giving the girl a chance to interrupt her, "His Marduk profile says he can synch with an Eva, on par with Rei, at the very least, so it's not your decision whether we draft him in or not. You very well know how rare that ability is."

"Bah," the young german muttered, glaring at the recovering boy, not mollified in the least, "with him as a pilot we're doomed anyways."

"Bitch," Toji moaned out from his position on the ground.

The flight to 'Over the Rainbow' was spent in continuous bickering.

* * *

"Ok, we're here!" Misato almost cheered, quickly jumping off the VTOL, apparently very much fed up with the constant arguments, which more often than not degenerated into profanity (and in Asuka's case, violence).

Her two charges followed her dutifully, exchanging dirty looks that promised a future to their 'conversation' and ignoring the ship's sunny and crowded deck. Asuka thanked the gods* that she decided against her yellow sundress today, going with jeans and t-shirt instead (she was very much horrified at how she looked in that dress, but without her hair, in the mirror), since it was rather windy.

The lieutenant who was sent to greet them led the trio directly to the bridge and into the snide comments of an annoyed admiral.

"So, it _has _happened. We've been reduced to cargo service." The old officer muttered spitefully, staring at Misato's red beret, jacket and miniskirt in disapproval (and Asuka was convinced it was a miniskirt, no matter what Misato herself thought about that).

"Thank you for your hospitality, Admiral." Katsuragi sang cheerfully, managing to mock the man by simply standing at attention. Asuka mimicked her, noticing with distaste that Suzuhara was slouching, hands in his tracksuit's pockets, and looking around, as if to alleviate boredom.

Maybe she could get her hands on Marduk Institite's phone number to 'explain' why their choice had been faulty?

"And thank _you, _Major," the admiral seethed subtly, obviously noticing the lack of respect from a much lower-ranking officer but impotent to do anything about it, "for turning the entire pacific fleet into a glorified daycare center!"

The last phrase, as well as the look accompanying it, was directed at both Asuka and Toji. The girl remained ramrod straight, eyes forwards, reminding herself that she had to endure a week on this ship and that the old bastard could very easily make this week into hell on earth, so reminding him that she and Unit 01 could wipe out said 'whole pacific fleet' in under five minutes wouldn't be very smart. Suzuhara, however, wasn't so concerned.

"Yo, I hear ya, man. I woulnna be here either, if it weren't for her and that blond chick." Here the boy jerked a thumb towards the mortified Misato, and then had the gall to actually spit onto the floor and start picking his teeth.

The look on the both admiral's and his aide's faces could only be described as… interesting.

"Here are the modifications for the external power socket, admiral," Misato had quickly tried to rescue the situation, while Asuka not-quite-subtly pushed her elbow into the boy's gut with enough force to render him not only silent (since all the air had been driven from his lungs), but also terrified, thanks to the utterly murderous glare that had followed the elbow.

"You're wasting your time," The man graciously allowed the change of topic, recomposing himself and taking the papers, throwing them a cursory look, "I'll never allow that _toy _to be activated while on my ship."

"Of course, admiral," Misato chirped, "Think of it as a 'just-in-case' scenario. I must tell you, however, that in case of emergency, Nerv has the authority."

"Yes," the man murmured snidely, throwing a disgusted look at Toji, "I can see why your _expertise _would be beneficial to us in an emergency situation."

Misato's smile became brittle.

"Now get off my bridge, major," the admiral ordered, standing up and motioning for his aide to follow, "go inspect that toy of yours. I have more important thing to do then entertain a pack of _civilians_."

Apparently it was the worst insult the man knew, but from the look on Misato's face it had its effect. The woman saluted sharply and turned around, motioning for Asuka and Toji to follow her.

Once they had left the bridge and back on the deck, she sighted heavily, leaned onto the rails and lit herself a nicotine stick with a jerky motion.

"Suzuhara," she finally addressed the completely clueless boy in a rather severe tone, "I know you're new to the whole thing, but you're a part of military structure now, whether you like it or no. You don't address a superior officer outside of Nerv with that kind of familiarity. And you don't spit on a ship's bridge with the ship's captain right in front of you. It's common sense."

She sighted again, taking a long drag on her cigarette.

"I figured you'd have at least a bit of that common sense, but obviously I was mistaken. I'm very disappointed in you."

The chastised boy looked at the floor, mumbling something that sounded remotely like 'sorry', causing the major to sight once more, turning away and staring at the waves.

Asuka contemplated continuing to berate Suzuhara on her own, but seeing how upset the older woman was, decided on a different course of action.

"Oh, come on, Misato," she spoke, taking a step forward and joining her guardian at the rails, "don't take it so close to heart. The old sob's just angry we're more important than he is."

"There's no need to rub his face into it, though," Katsuragi responded, throwing her cigarette butt overboard and turning back to the Children, "That guy has a lot of pull, or he wouldn't be admiral and Nerv doesn't have a lot of friends as it is. Now come on, we've got an Eva to inspect."

* * *

Stopping only for Misato to dump her beret in the bunk assigned to her, the trio, Toji still properly cowed, in Asuka's opinion, and thus thankfully silent, requisitioned a motorboat to 'Othello' and made their way towards the storage bay, where an unexpected surprise welcomed them.

"Kaji!" the young girl joyously shouted, immediately glomping the smirking unshaved man, who quickly lost his smirk and just _stared _at the complete and utter lack of hair on his former charge's head.

"You've… changed your hairstyle, Asuka," he lamely commented, still apparently in shock, returning the hug loosely and trying to find a way to compliment the girl out of sheer reflex, "it suits you?"

"You don't have to pretend, Kaji," the girl lovingly answered (thought innerly she was mortified. Kaji saw her bald! Damn it, why didn't she finally cave in and wear a wig?), letting the man go and running her hand over the pathetic red fluff that had managed to grow on her head in the weeks since Ramiel's attack, "I know it looks horrible."

"How did that one happen anyways?" the man asked, studying Asuka intently, as if searching for injuries.

"The last angel tried to blow me up in my entry plug," the pilot answered airily, enjoying her future lover's (_yeah, keep telling yourself that,_ her inner bitch snickered) attention, "I blew _him _up with a huge positron rifle instead."

"Ah," was all Kaji could manage, "I see."

Their conversation was interrupted by the smell of something burning, coming from Misato, who, as it turned out, had started to light her next cigarette but forgot to actually stop as soon as she saw who it was that was greeting them. Now the innocent cancer stick was crackling merrily under Operations director's nose, emitting cheerful flames that scorched her nose hair (ah, that explains the smell, Asuka thought absently).

"Y-you!" the major finally managed, letting her ruined cigarette fall and staring in wide-eyed shock at what she obviously thought was the bane of her whole existence. The young german followed her gaze, met Kaji's amused eyes and shrugged.

"So, you know each other then?" she grinned, dragging the pony-tailed man closer to Misato and the confused-looking Suzuhara.

"Oh yes, we go way back," Kaji cheerfully commented, waving lazily at the quickly reddening Misato, who scowled back with loathing, "we met in college. And who's that? Your boyfriend? Should I practice my 'I will break your legs' speech?"

"Oh please!" the girl cried, horrified at mere possibility, "As if this jock could ever stand a chance!"

"Hey, as if I'd want that chance!" Suzuhara returned indignantly, apparently having recovered from Misato's chewing out, "You're built like a brick, are bald and have a personality of a hungry demon! I'd rather die a virgin."

That comment earned him an angry huff, a slap and a submission of his ancestors' close relation to goats to the listeners' closer scrutiny.

"Ah, you haven't changed much, apart from the hair," Kaji chuckled, scratching his chin and throwing the glowering major a conspiratorial look, as if expecting her to participate in some inside joke, "I'm glad."

"I'm sure you are," Misato growled out, recovering some of her wits and finally lighting herself a cigarette, "We're here for the Eva. You're supervising the transport I suppose?"

"Why, yes, I am," the man cheerfully returned, his (in Asuka's opinion rather rakish) smile widening slightly. Misato let out an angry puff of smoke into said smile's direction.

"Well, come on then, let's get it over with," she mumbled, stomping past the amused man, Suzuhara following while throwing Kaji a confused glance.

"Well, that went well," Asuka commented wryly, "What the hell did you do to her to get her so pissed off?"

"Ah," the man sighted, a bit wistfully, "That's a long and rather confusing story. I don't want to bore you, really."

"I'm sure you don't," the girl grinned, grabbing her companion by the arm and dragging him in the direction where Misato and Suzuhara disappeared, while making eyes at him, "How's everyone at Nerv-Duesseldorf?"

"Bored," Kaji snickered, "there's not so much one can do with an Eva without a pilot, and the usual entertainment, such as someone setting old Doc Kluge's lab coat on fire, isn't there anymore, so…"

"Oh man," Asuka tried to make her pout as cute as possible, "You're never letting that one go, are you? It was an honest accident!"

"Yes, of course it was," the man shrugged, not trying very hard to smother his smile, "How about you then? Settling in ok?"

The girl shrugged easily, still not letting go of the ponytailed man's arm.

"I'm doing ok, even better now that you're here," she said, throwing him a look she practiced quite a bit before the mirror and had it on good authority was sexy, "apart from the whole 'Angels stole my hair' fiasco everything's great. School's a bit boring and the commander's being a bastard, but nothing too bad, really."

"I'm glad then," the man smiled again, utterly unperturbed by her efforts, "It's about time you could spend some time with children your age."

Asuka's smile turned slightly brittle.

_Damn it.

* * *

_

"Well, this is it, people," Kaji grinned, gesturing grandly and pressing a button on the crane controls with a flourish, the action causing the stationary lifter mechanismas to raise the tarp from the huge object behind his back, intimidating by its sheer size, "Evangelion Unit 02, the first model built for combat. Additional optical modules for an almost 360 degrees ocular perception, built-in gas-propelled needle-thrower, improved armor alloy and increased joint flexibility make it unparalleled on the field of battle!"

His little speech only earned him a glare from Misato and a rather bored glance from Asuka, thought she _had _tried to appear interested (however, having undergone countless hours of simulation and movement training with this unit, she already knew all that and more). Only Suzuhara appeared impressed.

"And it's a badass color too!" the boy exclaimed, gazing in excitement at the huge red war machine before him, "Nothing like that stupid purple for me!"

The girl by his side was _not _amused.

"Did you just diss Unit 01?" Asuka cried, kicking him in the shin and disregarding the fact that barely four weeks ago, she herself almost cried in frustration at her Unit's purple 'camouflage', "I still can kick your ass with Unit 01 any day of the week, rookie!"

"Up yours, Sohryu!" the boy snarked in response, rubbing his shin, "Don't get prissy with others just cuz you got the shit end of the deal with your Eva!"

"_What _did you just say!" the girl ground out, delivering another kick to Toji's wounded appendage, "Unit 01 totally kicks Unit 02's ass! It's like comparing a wannabe sports car to a multi-ton truck! _My_ Unit is built for professionals while this one would suit just fine for an amateur like you. I don't need anything fancy like a needle-thrower to _destroy _my enemies, while _you,_" here, she rewarded the boy with a dismissive look, "need all the help you can get to simply just not die."

Toji actually growled, getting in her face.

"Hey, you prima-donna! Give me some training and I'll totally whoop your scrawny ass!"

"Oh, how excellent that you should mention training," Asuka grinned diabolically, catching the boy by surprise, "since I'm your instructor for the next week, to help your FNG** butt get used to the Eva so you don't screw up."

Toji's shoulders slumped at this, his jaw dropping, as he stared in horror at the arrogantly smirking pilot.

"B-b-but Misato…" he trailed off looking absolutely pathetic, throwing a pitiful look at the amused major, only to be ignored.

"Well, Asuka, I'm glad you take your responsibilities so seriously," Misato nodded, looking very pleased and hiding a snicker.

"So am I, Misato," the young girl returned, already imagining the hell she was about to put Suzuhara through. Kaji had to turn away to hide his laughter.

* * *

"No, no, no!" the young german kicked Unit 02's command chair in frustration, "First neural connections, then optics realignment, and _then _servo checkup! What are you, an idiot?"

It had been three days since her arrival on 'Over the Rainbow' and the beginning of Suzuhara's introduction to Unit 02's interface, and Asuka was ready to strangle the boy.

Oh, sure, he took to the theory like a fish to water, surprisingly enough, even obediently memorized all the relevant parts of the Eva a pilot should know about (the weapons tutorial had been received with especial glee), so the german pilot decided not to waste time and to introduce Suzuhara to the entry plug, albeit not filled with LCL, since Toji had already undergone one preliminary synch test in a simulated body, though first activation test hasn't been performed yet. The admiral, though, refused to waste power from the aircraft carrier's reactor on, as he had put it to the disgruntled girl, frivolous undertakings, so the girl couldn't synch with the Eva herself as a demonstration and neither could she walk Suzuhara through the synchronization up to the absolute borderline.

Still, Asuka had some options left to her, since a basic sympathetic connection between the Eva and the pilot could be established with only A-10 links. It still wasn't even close to the first activation stage, but at the very least it let Toji feel the Eva out a bit, so to speak. It also conserved energy, since the battery could support that kind of connection by running in intermediate mode (the girl had been graciously allowed by 'Othello's captain to jury-rig one of the lighting fixtures in the holding bay to supply the power necessary for that). Besides, the point was to simply familiarize the boy with the basic procedures; the rest could be done once they arrived at Tokyo 3.

And in these basic procedures Toji failed spectacularly. He refused to run through the standard pre-start check in the right order. He didn't remember the right steps for the plug ejection sequence. And the less said about his attempts to switch from intermediate to active mode, the better.

Asuka dreaded the moment she'd have to introduce him to the self-destruct mechanism.

True, all these things weren't really necessary since the HQ and the Magi usually took care of everything, but a proper pilot had to know them anyways, in the girl's opinion, if one had to reactivate in the field or when one lost synchronization during battle.

"Jeez, sorry, ok?" Suzuhara whined, readjusting the A-10 clips she had loaned him (though he simply refused to wear her spare plug suit that she had brought along for exactly this purpose) and shifting a bit in the command chair, looking desperately for the right switches below the control yokes.

"No, stop that!" Asuka howled, seeing that her inept student was reaching for the emergency LCL vent instead of neural interface reset (which could be done with one's mind anyways, like she had _told _him many times before).

"Ok, ok, I think I got it now."

"No, you idiot, that's not the reset! That's… Oh, forget it," the girl slumped in tired frustration, "Let's take a break, I don't have the patience anymore."

Suzuhara scowled darkly, but let go of the yokes and undid the clips from his hair, throwing them into the chair with his own sigh.

"Jeez, why does this thing have to be so complicated, anyways?" he muttered, standing up and stretching his back. The girl opened the hatch of the entry plug, hopping down onto the Eva's back and waiting for her inept apprentice to follow before resealing the plug and sinking it back into Unit 02's torso.

"It's not complicated, you're just a moron," she grumbled, while climbing down the ladder hanging from the red giant's head, "Come along, Fourth, you're buying me a coffee."

"What? Since when?" the jock cried in outrage, but shut up quickly under her glare, obediently following her to the ship's cantina. Once they arrived, Asuka threw herself heavily onto the uncomfortable chair and motioned for him to go and get her drink, while massaging her shoulders tiredly.

The young german had to admit, she herself had to strain to remember all the relevant activation steps, since Unit 01 and Shinji did most of them on their own and, apparently, without a second thought, so she could cut Suzuhara some slack, she supposed. The boy wasn't slacking off, he was trying after all, thought not very hard, in her opinion. He just sucked as an Eva pilot.

Giving her head a little shake, the girl looked around the cantina, hopeful to spot either Misato, who was hiding from Kaji most of the time, going so far as to leave Suzuhara's training completely on Asuka, or Kaji, who was apparently taking great delight in finding Misato and annoying her. Neither was present, leaving the pilot to emit another disappointed sigh and try to relax in the uncomfortable metal contraption someone dared to call a chair.

"Here's your coffee, demon-girl," Toji muttered with a displeased scowl, putting the styrofoam cup in front of her, then slumping down in the opposite sit, "And it wasn't cheap, so don't start complaining."

"Shut up, idiot," the girl scowled back, taking a sip and cringing slightly at the disgusting taste. Apparently, the US navy was on a very small budget indeed if that was what they had to drink.

"Why the heck they made you an Eva pilot, I'll never understand," she continued, putting her bald head onto the tabletop and relishing the cool surface.

"Hey, it isn't like I had much of a choice about it, you know," Suzuhara grumbled, taking a sip from his can of juice, causing Asuka to shift her attention back to him.

"Eh? What do you mean, you didn't have a choice?" she asked, mind quickly flashing back to Ikari Shinji's motivation of getting into Unit 01's entry plug for the first and only time.

"Forget I said anything," Toji scowled, staring at the table, as thought that would dissuade further questions. Of course, he should have known better.

"Oh, no, you don't drop stuff like that in a conversation and then don't speak up, you idiot," his companion snapped, putting her elbows onto the table and leaning closer, "Because if you still have an out, I'd take it if I were you. You'll be massacred by the first Angel that comes along if you don't shape up, and you still hadn't had any movement training at all! I shudder to think how long it'll take to make you _barely _competent with Unit 02 if that's the speed you're going to learn at."

"I can't, ok!" Suzuhara mumbled, still staring at the table and clenching his juice can tightly, "They promised they'd take my sister to a Nerv hospital and pay for the treatments."

"Ah," was all Asuka was able to say, leaning back and digesting that bit of information, "I see."

So the incident with coercing Shinji into Unit 01 wasn't the only one, it seemed. Considering all that she's found out about Nerv's top management in her time at Tokyo-3, it wasn't so surprising. Making a snap decision, the girl leaned closer to Toji, modulating her voice to be as quiet as possible.

"You aren't the first they pulled that trick on, Suzuhara," she whispered, drawing the boy's attention and making his eyes widen in surprise, "remember what I told you about Ikari Shinji?"

"The one who died?" Toji whispered back, also leaning forwards and throwing a surreptitious look around.

"Yeah," Asuka answered, still in sotto voce, "Well, he didn't get into the plug willingly either. The commander paraded Ayanami in front of him, while she was still so beat up she couldn't even sit up straight, and told him she'd have to pilot if Shinji didn't."

"Woah," Suzuhara winced, "wasn't he like, the commander's son?"

"Oh yeah, like the bastard cared," the young german smirked nastily, "it was his first sortie too, the guy hadn't even _seen_ an Eva before."

"Shii-it," Toji drawled quietly, leaning back, his juice forgotten. Asuka sipped her coffee again, grimacing.

"You said it," she commented, "I kinda get it, defend humanity at all cost, and all that, but I'd watch my step around the brass, if I were you. Considering what they did to Ayanami, I wouldn't put anything past them."

"What they did to Ayanami?" Suzuhara inquired, brows furrowing, "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Fourth, use your head," Asuka snapped, "You don't end up like her without some brainwashing. I mean, she's constantly going on about 'duty' and 'bond to people' and 'the commander ordered'. You don't end up like that on your own."

Suzuhara just stared back at her, flabbergasted, obviously wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.

"Sohryu, you're being paranoid," he finally stated, though he sounded unsure, "I mean, yeah, she's quiet and a bit distant, but brainwashing? You're bullshitting me."

"Oh yeah?" the girl smirked humorlessly, "I live with her, you only see her at school. That girl's so emotionless she's like an automaton most of the time! She doesn't know _anything_ that's not connected to Eva or to the commander. I mean, I asked her once if she's afraid of getting into Unit 00 after it went nuts that one time. You know what she'd said? That 'if she dies she can be replaced'! How fucked up is that?"

"Ok, ok," Toji muttered, eyes wide, "I get it."

"You don't know the half of it," Asuka leaned back, taking another gulp of her cooling coffee, "Just… Be on your guard, ok? I don't like you but I don't want you to get into this whole thing completely clueless either."

"A bit too late for that, isn't it?" the jock commented, a bit wryly, after a minute of contemplation, then drained his juice in one go, crushing the can afterwards.

"Ok, Sohryu," he said, his voice determined, "Let's have another go at that activation thingy. If we're getting fucked over for the sake of humanity, might as well do it right proper."

Asuka actually raised an eyebrow at that declaration, before almost unconsciously smiling at the jumpsuit wearing boy in front of her. She hadn't expected Suzuhara to get the point so quickly and start taking the whole pilot deal more seriously, but it was nice to be pleasantly surprised. Perhaps the jock wasn't such an asshole after all.

"Well, ok, but if you screw up one more friggen time, I'm having your hide for breakfast, Fourth," the german pilot commented with a grin, draining the last of her coffee and rising, only to stumble when a sudden undersea shockwave shook 'Othello'.

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Suzuhara shouted, running out onto the bustling deck and leaning over the rails to see what the hell was going on. Asuka joined him almost immediately, but the picture she saw wasn't very reassuring.

One of the destroyers that had been moving alongside the 'Over the Rainbow' was currently upside-down, displaying its gutted bilge for all to see and sinking rapidly, while its neighbor was turning around, bringing its side and back-mounted artillery to bear. The rest of the fleet's heavy ships were also quickly taking positions, surrounding both 'Over the Rainbow' and the aircraft-carrier-turned-freighter in a defensive barrier, while the smaller torpedo-boats dispersed further away, periodical splashes from under their rostrums indicating that they had found the target and were engaging.

Before the two Children's eyes one of said torpedo-boats suddenly split in half, followed by a monstrous explosion as the unfired ammunition detonated.

"Shit!" Asuka cursed, having spotted the huge and ugly creature's back diving back underwater a millisecond before the explosion, "An Angel!"

"What? Here?" Suzuhara cried, clearly afraid. Asuka didn't deign him with a response, grabbing his forearm and dragging him towards the cargo deck instead.

"Come on, we've got to get to the Eva!"

Stumbling when another shockwave shook the ship, the duo dashed past the sailors filling the deck and into the cargo deck, where the red giant lay in the pool of coolant.

"Come on, Fourth, hurry up!" Asuka snapped at the boy, who stopped, as if unsure of what to do now. She was already halfway up the rope ladder that hung from the Unit's head, on top of which her bag and her plug suit awaited. Suzuhara followed, cursing as another explosion rocked the sea underneath.

As he made it to the top, however, he stopped all activity, since before his bulging eyes, an already half naked Asuka Langley Sohryu was cursing up a storm and stripping off her shirt in a hurry, while trying to get her _very naked _leg into the red plug suit. And _damn_, did she have curves…

"What the hell are you waiting for?" the girl snapped at him, promising herself to hit the perv for staring later, "Grab the spare suit and get into it!"

Finally managing to get both of her feet into the right slots and quickly discarding the persistent shirt, the young german quickly struggled into the baggy plug suit the rest of the way, pressurized the thing with a familiar slap on her wrist and turned expectantly to her companion, who, as it turned out, was still dead to the world, cheeks red and eyes wide, not moving from the spot where she stood a second ago.

"Goddamn it, Suzuhara!" Asuka cried, slapping the idiot and finally snapping him out of his daze, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Wha-what the hell, Sohryu!" Toji inquired, blushing madly and rubbing his injured cheek.

"Do you want to die, idiot?" the german girl shouted, hitting him over the head and hauling him towards the plug.

"_You just friggen stripped in front of me!" _the boy howled, obviously terribly confused. Asuka hit him again, getting into his face.

"The Fourth Angel gored my Unit through the stomach and almost melted off my hands. You were there, you saw it," she informed him in a measured and deadly voice, "The Fifth fried me so badly they had to re-grow most of my skin. It was very painful both times and I was sure I was gonna die. Do you want to die, Suzuhara?"

"N-no…" the boy mumbled, very much surprised by his companion's vehemence.

"_Then get your ass in gear, moron!" _the redhead screamed into his face, hitting him again, then dragged him towards the entry plug. Fuck getting him into the plug suit; she had no time to wait until he got into it. She'd simply have to deal with the two to six percent synch ratio loss an uninsulated foreign body inside the plug caused.

Stuffing the still flabbergasted idiot into the entry capsule and hopping in after him, the female pilot sealed the hatch and swatted away the A-10 links Toji left in the chair, while putting on her own suction-cap ones.

"Switch profile to ALS and reset the neural interface," she ordered the Eva's interface unit harshly, quickly flicking several tiny switches on the underside of the control yokes' fixture.

"Flood the plug and ionize LCL," the girl commanded as soon as the green indicator blinked on her plug suit's wrist monitor, informing her that the profile had been successfully loaded. The cool liquid rushed in quickly, filling the plug and causing Suzuhara behind her to gag, having experienced the vile liquid only once before.

"Don't throw up into the plug, moron!" Asuka snapped without turning around, while sending mental orders to commence activation, "Or we'll have to swim in it!"

Unit 02's systems surged to life with a low hum, the optical screen spanning almost completely around her (the only feature she had missed in Unit 01, though not by much), flashing with a milliard of different colors switching impossibly quickly (and causing Suzuhara to gag again), before settling into the Eva's ocular perception, currently showing the bottom of the coolant pool.

"Ok, you ready?" the girl inquired, finally turning around and finding Toji behind her command chair, looking green in the face.

"I don't remember it being so bad during the synch test," the boy wheezed, his eyes clenched shut. Asuka took it as a yes.

"Ok then," she muttered, switching into active mode with a thought and once more reaching out with her will, commanding the machine under her to move, ignoring the cold temperature of the LCL, the unusually bad quality of the display before her, the absence of the calming heartbeat that dulled the sound of humming machinery of the entry plug. She had a job to do.

"Eva-2, launch!"

* * *

"Hit it again!" the admiral screamed, throwing a furious look at his tactical officer, who had just discharged a full salvo of torpedoes at the strange creature, only to have it shrug off the explosive warheads as if they weren't even there, "Have 'Kirov' pick up the drowning from the 'Indominable'! 'Emperor', disengage and deploy underwater mines!"

"It won't help you, admiral," A calm voice informed him, causing the aging officer to turn around, locking eyes with the calm-as-a-cucumber Nerv major, who was standing near the doorway, leaning against the wall and smoking languidly, as if they weren't currently being attacked by a being out of Lovecraft's books.

"Get out of here, Major! I'm busy!" the man snapped, turning his attention back to the sensory equipment.

"You _were _briefed on the Angels' defense mechanisms, weren't you, admiral?" the major answered sardonically, leaving her position near the door and walking over to the enraged man, who, while seething, quickly tried to recall what the stupid bint was talking about.

"The A.T.-Field, admiral," the woman continued, when the officer didn't respond after a second, "the barrier that rendered the Third Angel impervious to anything but an N2 bombardment. Ring a bell?"

In truth, the man had taken _that _particular report as a bit of a joke. Some kind of force-field? This wasn't science-fiction, this was real life, damn it.

But, from what he was seeing, the bloody thing was shrugging off pretty much anything his ships were dishing out, torpedoes, artillery fire, even underwater mines that could blow a submarine apart in one hit. The only thing left to try would be launching a wing of Su-34 and trying to bomb the hell out of that thing, thought anything other than torpedo bombardment would be very much suicidal, since the target was swimming right under the ships… Damn it.

"Fine, major," the officer spit out, turning fully to the arrogant woman, who had the gall to drop the cigarette onto his bridge's floor and crush it with her, admittedly, very good-looking foot.

"Deploy Unit 02," Katsuragi smirked, "it will neutralize the target's AT-field and destroy it, or allow your shots to connect unimpeded."

"Fine," the admiral nodded shortly, turning back to his bridge crew, "reroute power to that stupid socket and…"

Suddenly he fell silent, as a huge shape rose from 'Othello's cargo deck, wrapped into tarp like it was some kind of demented cloak, red paint glinting in the bright sun, four green eyes shining malevolently.

"This is Pilot Sohryu, to 'Over the Rainbow'," a young girl's voice sounded over the com, "I have less than a minute of power left, so I need my external socket. Brace for impact, I'll have to jump over."

And that was when everything went to hell.

* * *

The brig of 'Over the Rainbow' was surprisingly small for such a large vessel, Asuka would have reckoned, were she not pacing in circles around her tiny cell, pissed enough to chew through the damned bars. In the equally tiny cell opposite to hers Suzuhara sat on the floor, cross-legged, scowling darkly into space and muttering rather unfavorable things towards a certain admiral.

"What the fuck is wrong with them?" the girl exploded, for the third time in the last half an hour, speed of her pacing increasing to remind the only observer of a caged tiger, "I save their goddamn asses and that's the thanks I get?"

"Chill, Sohryu," the boy muttered, leaning back so he was lying on the floor, legs still crossed, "It's not like we can do a damn fucking thing about it."

"Oh I will do a thing about it!" the incensed redhead screeched, starting to kick her bunk savagely, "As soon as we're back in Japan, I'm getting into Unit 01 and hunting _the bastard_ down!"

Finally exhausted from kicking anything in her reach, her leg hurting, the young pilot, still in her plug suit, slumped down onto the bed, the leg of which was actually dented by her 'exercise'.

In hindsight, the battle against the angel, recently named Gaghiel by a burst transmission from Tokyo-3, could have gone better, Asuka figured. Perhaps her little hopscotch session across the sea was a bit… wasteful on the ships of the pacific fleet, but it was necessary, damn it! The Angel could have hit 'Othello' at any second; she had to get to her power supply! It wasn't like there were any sailors killed or permanently maimed because of her! And her actions on trying to restrain Gaghiel from rolling off of 'Over the Rainbow's flight deck were also necessary, damn it! If the giant fucking fish would've gotten back into water it'd have ripped her and her B-Type armored Eva apart! And so what if she broke off one of the flight control towers to impale the bloody monster? She needed a weapon bigger then a prog knife! And it was dead, wasn't it? Yes, perhaps ripping the pinned Angel's core out with her bare hands, and showering the whole ship in the monster's thick black blood was a bit excessive, she admitted that, but her tactic had already worked once on Shamshel, so she was acting out a battle-proved strategy, damn it! Yeah, she shredded Eva 02's arm armor on the thing's gigantic teeth doing so, and injured the bio-robot's arm, but the deed was done! She had destroyed the target, quickly (in under 3 minutes, too), if not cost-efficiently, and that was her job, damn it! How dare the stupid aging prick punish her for it?

Thought, she had to admit, perhaps she shouldn't have laughed at the admiral's face during the incredibly short 'debriefing', purple with rage, spittle flying from his mouth, but she was high on her adrenaline rush, so it wasn't her fault anyways. Misato laughed too, and she wasn't being thrown into the friggen brig! Oh no, the Major was just getting confined to her quarters! Why the hell was Asuka getting to suffer for this, despite getting the job done and saving everyone?

At least, Suzuhara had proved himself useful, even managing to boost her own synch number with his own attempt to connect to the Evangelion to provide the force necessary to separate the thickly-armored core from of the thing's snapping jaws. Who would've thought he'd be able to synch with Unit 02 without even A-10-connectors, much less a plug-suit? The girl knew herself how difficult that was in practice, having undergone enough experimental synch exercises back in Germany.

The single positive, however, didn't even come close to equaling out all the negatives, such as her being confined to the brig like a common criminal, without access to a shower to wash the drying LCL off, or her clothes to change out of her plug suit, which, while a very comfortable piece of piloting wear, wasn't designed to be worn outside of liquid, oxygenated environments for more than a few hours.

Growling again at the unfairness of it all, Asuka rose from the bunk and resumed her pacing, preparing herself mentally for another rant.

"How dare they!.."

"Oh shut the fuck up, already!" Toji finally snapped, apparently fed up with her whining, "Yeah, we screwed up! Now we're paying for it! So deal!"

"Shut your mouth, rookie!" the girl returned immediately, surprising herself by getting even angrier, "We _didn't screw up! _It was the best possible outcome!"

"How was _that _the best outcome, Sohryu?" Suzuhara snarked, pulling at his shirt, which was caked with drying LCL and, obviously, quite uncomfortable and stifling, "You damaged _seven friggen ships_ by your jumping around, completely destroyed the whole deck of this ship and gored the fucking monster _with a bloody tower!"_

"And there were no more causalities after we got the Eva active!" Asuka returned, crossing her arms and calming herself by the need to come up with proper arguments, "The fleet didn't lose any more ships and now we have another angel corpse to study! So what if a few of his precious boats got busted up a bit? What did he expect in an engagement scenario? The Third Angel destroyed half of Tokyo-3 and four _battalions of troops _in tow hours, and the Fourth fucked up the interception system so bad it's still being repaired! I'm not even talking about the Fifth, which, by the way, fucked up _both _Tokyo-3, the intercept system _and _the hills around the city into complete nothingness! _This _was the least property damage in _all _angel attacks till now!"

Appeased but not cowed, the boy in the opposite cell shut up with a sour look on his face, unable to argue with her point, and started pulling off his jacket and t-shirt instead.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Asuka scowled, not even thinking to turn around to give him some privacy.

"What?" the jock mocked, "You can flash me but I can't?"

"I was _not _flashing you!" the girl screeched, cheeks turning red, "You're so lucky I can't hit you right now!"

"Oh come off it, Sohryu," the now bare-chested (and, as Asuka noticed, to her own displeasure at her noticing, quite-well-built) boy grumbled, hanging his ruined clothes onto the bars to dry, "It's not like I'm not grateful for the show. At least I can't call you scrawny anymore, can I?"

"It was not a _show!" _the pilot howled, her blush worsening at the backhanded compliment and the increasing embarrassment, "There just wasn't enough time to get changed somewhere else!"

"Yeah-yeah," Suzuhara waved her off dismissively, stretching leisurely (Asuka caught herself staring and turned away, disgusted with herself), then planting himself onto his bunk with the obvious intention to go to sleep, "I get it, no time for modesty, serious business. Doesn't mean I can't get my rocks off over it."

"_What?" _the girl practically roared, throwing herself at the bars and stretching her hands far outside in a futile attempt to reach her nemesis and strangle him, causing one of the marines standing guard in the corridor outside the brig to peek inside, then quickly back out again upon seeing the girl's crazed snarl, "You damned pervert! How dare you!"

The boy just smiled serenely, lying onto his back and obviously already thinking all kinds of depraved thoughts about her young innocent body, unmindful of the payback he would be getting later.

After almost five minutes of trying to reach the perverted bastard, trying to disassemble the bars blocking her way out and trying to crawl through the tiny porthole (so that she could climb up the ship's outside hull, circle back, kill everyone who stood in her way and deliver her vengeance upon the unfortunate Fourth Child), the girl slumped against the metal wall, completely spent after her explosion of fury, enjoying the feel of cool metal through the thin rubber of her plug suit.

Sliding down along said wall so that she was sitting on the cool floor, outside of Toji's view, the girl put her head into her hands and emitted a tired sigh, lamenting the fact that Kaji, of all people, fled on a hijacked plane as soon as the battle started. He wouldn't have been so insensitive. Or let her be thrown into prison for that matter.

Suppressing her disappointment over her ideal man's behavior and ruthlessly denying herself the urge to cry, the young pilot suddenly caught herself imagining Suzuhara's naked torso, remembering how it had pressed against her plug-suit clad shoulder in the tight confines of Unit 02's entry capsule.

The bang of metal against the back of her head was incredibly painful and the idea to bash her skull against a wall suddenly appeared a lot less good, in hindsight. Where was Shinji when she needed someone to talk to? He was a perv, too, but he wouldn't have been an asshole about it either…

Discreetly depressurizing her airtight plug suit and opening it on the back to let the skin of her back and shoulders lean against the cold metal, Asuka emitted another sigh, this time one of contentment. That felt so much better.

Suzuhara's nicely toned abs…

The goose egg on the back of her head was joined by several new ones.

* * *

The commander's office was dark, windows shuttered and not letting any of the geo-front's artificial light through. The only source of illumination was the Tree of Life, flaring with bright but malevolent red under Asuka's feet. Still, the girl was fighting a grin, watching as the homo bastard sapiens, hands tented in front of his face, tone barely above a whisper, calm and deliberate, ripped the US Navy admiral in front of him into tiny pieces.

The girl didn't know how Ikari Gendo managed to get the admiral (whose name she herself still didn't know) away from his ship and onto his proverbial carpet, but the slight look of unease on the officer's face was worth its weight in gold.

Asuka also didn't know how the commander managed to make the admiral stand at attention without so much as raising his tone, but she swore she had to learn it. It was actually quite funny, how she couldn't decide which of the two men she loathed more.

"… thus you have overstepped your jurisdiction, as, according to the UN charter, in an emergency situation such as the attack of an entity codenamed Gaghiel, Nerv is duty-bound to take command of all available military recourses and destroy the hostile with extreme prejudice," the commander's voice was level, quiet and, surprisingly, without a hint of boredom, as if he was giving the situation his whole attention. Said attention was making the admiral in front of him _very _uneasy_, _"You also overstep you authority, by undertaking punitive actions and incarceration of two minors that are, technically, not a part of the military command structure and answer only to the Nerv Research Institute, also in accordance with the UN charter. This misuse of your authority has been recorded and the relevant ministries, as well as your superiors, have been notified. You are, as of now, stripped of command over the pacific fleet and are ordered to return to Washington-4 for debriefing," the tone didn't change in the slightest, but somehow, perhaps telepathically, the commander transmitted that said 'debriefing' would hardly be pleasant.

To Asuka's right, Suzuhara stood, also at attention, but for different reasons, namely his crotch and ass muscles hurting so badly from Asuka's kicking two days ago, that this was the most comfortable pose he could take. He also sported a black eye and a healing split lip. From his expression, he wasn't enjoying the proceedings in the slightest and would have rather taken the time to lie down and try to recover. The girl's smile widened fractionally.

"… you are dismissed," Gendo finally finished, letting the sweating admiral salute sharply and, turning on his heels, stalk out of the intimidating office. The commander's eyes focused on the Children.

"Pilot Sohryu, while your actions during the engagement of Gaghiel are without reproach," here, an almost amused undertone emerged in the ice-cold voice, "your misconduct towards the Forth Child demands further disciplinary measures. Your monetary allowance will be further reduced to it's minimum for the next month and your Nerv recreation center use privileges will be revoked for the timeframe of two weeks. Nerv will not allow you to sabotage its resources through childish outbursts. You both are dismissed, report to Doctor Akagi for the synchronization test."

Aaand Asuka knew again why she hated Ikari Gendo more than anyone else on the planet. The smirk Suzuhara's bruised mug was currently displaying wasn't helping the matters either.

Stalking out of the bastard's office, the girl leaned onto the escalator's rail, huffing angrily, doing a quick re-calculation of what she wouldn't be able to allow herself to buy for the next month. That list was getting longer and longer with each visit to her boss's lair, funnily enough. Suzuhara, though currently moving much more slowly than her, finally managed to catch up, still ramrod-straight, but smirking impudently.

"Are you happy now?" the girl snapped at him, glaring hatefully, "I'm down to ten thousand yen because of you."

"Eh? Aren't we, like, getting 500 grands a month?" the boy inquired, slightly surprised by the unusually low amount.

"Not my first pay cut this month," Asuka muttered darkly, wondering whether or not she should risk bumming off of Misato's fast food stash. At least Ayanami was contributing to the utility bills. Maybe Kaji could spot her some cash do tide her over? No, she was still pissed at him for jumping ship during the battle.

"Not the second either, apparently," the boy returned smartly, grin returning, "I could spot you a loan or something, devil, since I, _the rookie_, get more money then you, veteran."

The urge to push the stupid bastard off the escalator and watch him fall screaming half a kilometer down was strangely enticing.

"Fuck you, Fourth. Stick your sodding money up your unclean hole," Asuka cursed, turning away from the current bane of her existence, "I don't need your charity."

"Feh," Toji huffed, shifting cautiously and wincing in pain, "Wasn't suggesting charity."

Jerking her shoulders, the young german stepped off the escalator, having finally arrived at the corridor leading to the Eva cages, and modulating her stride so that Suzuhara could keep up but had to move fast to do so (that would put the boy in more agony then her simply walking off would, she figured).

"What were you suggesting then, bastard?" she inquired, trying to keep her voice natural. She needed the money, pride be damned. She wasn't about to live a month on frozen fish, and mooching off of Ayanami was out of the question, since the commander held the key to the albino's bank account and would probably punish Asuka further if he discovered where the money was going.

"We-el," Suzuhara smirked, grin widening further, as he hobbled behind her, "I figured asking you to pose for pictures was out of the question…"

"Yeah, you know what, asshole? Fuck you." The girl snarled, accelerating her strides slightly and making Suzuhara wince again as he was forced to hobble faster.

Jerking her access card through the slot and walking through Unit 01's opened cage door, the girl stopped in front of the intimidating horned visage, wondering whether Shinji would be able to hack into the Magi and allocate her more funds. Nah, Gendo'd catch on and she'd have to live on Misato's cooking for a year or something equally horrible.

"Well, as I was saying," the boy behind her panted with effort to catch up, still determined to continue the conversation, "I was thinking, a date would do."

The young german actually blinked in confusion.

"Are you a masochist or something? Because if you're thinking since you saw me undressing you could get some action from me, you're just begging for another ass-kicking," she remarked in a measured voice promising violence.

"Did I say anything about getting action?" Suzuhara wondered neutrally, coming to a halt next to her, a bit closer then she would have liked. Asuka's mind flashed back quickly, thinking that below that shirt of his was a very well-defined and tasty-looking…

Since there were no walls to bash her head against, Asuka settled for pinching her arm discreetly.

"I said a date," the boy continued coming even closer and clearly violating her personal space. Asuka was still unclear whether she should do something about it or not. Only now she noticed that she was actually a little flushed at the cheeks.

Perhaps forgiving Kaji wouldn't be such a bad idea, after all, considering the alternative…

"Ok, fine," her lips breathed out, seemingly without input from her cranial nerve, "One date, and you spot me a few dozen grand to tie me over for the next month. That's it, no strings attached."

The happy look on the beaten jerk's face almost caused her to smile.

"And no strings attached, or you'll think the last beating was a lover's caress, Suzuhara!" she repeated her warning, trying to sound as severe as possible.

"Yeah-yeah, of course," the idiot grinned goofily, "Pick you up at six on Friday?"

"Fine," The girl shortly responded, internally thanking her lucky star that the idiot was still a child. Six o'clock? Please. Probably a movie and a dinner at some crappy fast-food joint. Or maybe he was being thoughtful and didn't want her to think he had something untoward in mind by not setting the time later? Damn it, why was she now thinking that the date was something more than it was?

Turning around quickly, the girl marched out of the cage towards the cage observation room where Akagi was probably already waiting, leaving Suzuhara to catch up.

The boy just stood there, grinning like an idiot, until he turned towards the purple visage above him. His smile slowly slid off. Wasn't Unit 01's head much closer then it was before? Was it, like, glaring at him right now? Why were its eyes burning so brightly?

Without a sound, such a stealthy move seemingly impossible for a machine its size, the Evangelion twisted its right hand out of the restraints.

Then, ever so slowly, it ran one gigantic purple finger _across its neck._

And then, said finger, the size of a medium car, pointed clearly at Toji.

The hand then, equally quietly, with only a slight groan of stretched metal, returned to its place, sneaking back into the restraints. The head, its terrifying horn gleaming in the lamplight, rose back to its original position and the bright-white eyes dulled to a steady pale yellow.

Robotically, forcing one leg in front of the other, Suzuhara Toji marched out of the cage, a grimace of unadulterated horror on his face, sweat running down his back.

Perhaps he should've thought the whole date thing through more thoroughly.

* * *

* - The Author found it presumtious to conclude that Asuka worships only a single diety, since there was no indication at her religion throughout the Anime. For all we know, she could be a dutiful follower of Khorne and the other Chaos Gods, no matter how small the possibility. - _Author's comments_

** - FNG is an abbriviature for 'Fucking New Guy', originaly used as a derogatory term within Military of the USA deployed to South East Asia during the Vietnam War. It has not seen much use outside the US military but is still encountered in fanfiction from time to time. Check Wikipedia or other sources for further information. - _Author's comments_


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's notes: I apologize for the long time it took me to update, I have no excuse. I'll try to get the next chapter out faster. I'm still unsatisfied with this one, but it's not going to get any better, since I had rewritten it a dozen times and this was the best I could do. Please let me know whether you like it or not, your opinions are always appreciated. Once more, please extend your thanks to my beta, BlueGlass54, who, despite such a long time it took me to get this chapter ready, was still willing to help me out._

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.

Chapter 6

The NERV Cafeteria tabletops, Asuka discovered, were incredibly hard and hurt a great deal if you slammed your head into them in frustration.

Rubbing her smarting forehead, the girl leaned back into her chair and once more lamented her current state of affairs, including but not limited to Hikari acting extremely strangely but refusing to tell her what it was all about, Shinji acting extremely strangely but refusing to tell her what it was all about, and Suzuhara avoiding her like a plague and going pale every time she was in the vicinity, while _also _refusing to tell her what was up. Why the hell did he ask her out if he was acting like that now?

All in all, Asuka was quite certain the whole world had left Sanity for the comfy beaches of Madness and somehow she missed the memo.

Taking a sip of her ice coffee and scowling at its cheap taste, the pilot of the most expensive weapon in the world worked her shoulders, trying to get the kinks out. All that stress was horrible for her complexion, she figured.

It was Thursday, a day before her date with Toji and her upcoming financial windfall (and that was the only reason she was going on a date with Suzuhara, she had assured herself for the 312th time, though by the 115th it already didn't sound too convincing even to herself), and the german teenager was beginning to despair.

She was, surprisingly, quite happy about the whole date thing, even if it was with a disgusting perverted moron like Toji. She'd never been on a date with a peer before, and Suzuhara was, indeed, a peer, being an Eva pilot, and in the same age group as herself as well. Oh, sure, there were quite a lot of dates with older guys and even a disastrous college party that an incredibly perverted fellow student had invited her to (the party was ended when Section 2 of Nerv-Germany had busted down the doors of the dorm, scaring the partying students back to sobriety, to rescue the enraged and tipsy redhead from the backroom where she had beaten her would-be rapist into unconsciousness with a handy chair), but never with a guy whom she had to think of as an equal to some degree.

So, after spending an evening with confusing thoughts of Suzuhara's naked torso dancing in her mind, she had decided that the date wasn't such a bad thing after all and had immediately shared the good news with Hikari. Her friend's reaction could only be described as unsettling. The class representative stood there, mouth gaping open for a whole minute, before muttering a lame congratulation and burying her nose in her lunch. Of course, Asuka couldn't leave it at that, so she pestered the other girl until the usually shy and gentle girl went into her class tyrant mode, actually barking at the redhead to leave her alone, thought all the fight had left her afterwards and she had run off crying. Horaki had also refused all forms of communication from Asuka from that point on, causing the Eva pilot to crush her PDA in frustration. Seeing that she had just destroyed her favorite piece of equipment, the girl decided to lament said loss to Suzuhara during their synch test in the hope that he'd spring a bit more cash over for a new palmtop.

Toji, however, just stood there and perspired purposely, while she bemoaned her loss, paling more and more with every single word, then fled Unit 01's cage where the conversation took place, with a quick excuse. What the hell was up with that?

There was also a matter of a certain Major, along with her trusty sidekick, Doctor Akagi, giggling like demented schoolgirls every time she entered the same room. The reason for such out of character behavior was still a mystery to Asuka, since neither of the women was able to inform her of it at any given time, rolling on the floor as they were. The only thing she managed to get out of them were the words 'security footage', thought Asuka failed to see the connection between the surveillance cams and the hysteric fits her commanding officer and chief scientist of project E were now prone to.

And now, here she was, on a Thursday evening, sitting in the NERV cafeteria before another synch test, and wondering what the hell was up with everyone. When the hell did she become the butt of some cosmic joke, anyways?

Still, the fact remained that tomorrow, she had a date with Suzuhara, she had her sundress ready, she had her wig ready, she had her new shoes ready, she even had her nails done the other day (thought she sadly had to refuse that nice pinkish color the manicurist offered, since LCL had a habit of acting as a nail polish remover), but she still was a nervous wreck. Add that to the whole 'the world has gone insane', and you get a very cranky german teenager.

The only piece of good news was Rei, who had simply listened to her story of woe, nodded at the appropriate times, asked questions to concepts she didn't grasp yet, and then simply told Asuka to have a pleasant evening on Friday. Of course, afterwards the albino reminded her that she should use the proper contraceptive methods, since NERV couldn't afford a pregnant pilot at a time like this and that abortions were supposed to be very traumatic.

Asuka had hit her with a pillow for that. As if she'd sleep with a jerk like Suzuhara! Hah! She was only doing it for the money, anyways.

Oh, 313 times now.

Hitting the tabletop with her head again and barely avoiding her can of coffee, the girl wondered if she'd hit the 400 till the date time came.

* * *

The LCL's temperature was just a few degrees away from entombing her in a chunk of orange-colored ice, Asuka figured, as she shivered in her command chair, trying to warm her hands by rubbing them together.

"Third, something wrong?" she inquired, not for the first time, trying not to stutter from the cold. The blue flame in front of her flared malevolently.

"_Wrong?" _the boy's mental voice asked, a cheerful sincerity and an underlying hint of malice giving it a rather weird feeling, _"No, nothing's wrong at all! Why would you think that something was wrong?"_

"Oh, gee, I don't know," the young pilot muttered, huddling her body together for more warmth, "The fact that the LCL's about to freeze, perhaps?"

"_Oh, sorry, sorry," _the boy muttered, sounding abashed, and the liquid around her quickly warmed to its normal temperature, _"just a bit preoccupied, is all."_

"Ah," his companion muttered, relaxing and enjoying the sudden change of temperature, "What about?"

"_Oh, nothing important," _the spirit seemed to shrug, the blue-fire representation doing an amusing pirouette.

"Don't tell me the techs aren't doing their job again," Asuka cursed, remembering the last time that she had inspected the cleaning crew's efforts, "These idiots never clean the back armor properly, and I know it must piss you off. I'll shout at them after the test."

"_Um, yeah, that's it, thanks" _Shinji confirmed, a bit too quickly, in her opinion.

"Ok, what's wrong?" she scowled, "You're acting weird. And not the 'they forgot to oil my knee joint' weird either. Spill, Third Child."

"_Eh?" _the boy inquired nervously, _"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm absolutely fine!"_

"Well, fine, don't tell me then," the young german scoffed, leaning back and putting her palms behind her head, "Then I won't tell you that I'm going on a date either."

The ball of flame flared so brightly Asuka felt she had been x-rayed.

"Stop doing that, jerk, it's killing my eyesight," the redhead muttered, rubbing her eyelids.

"_Ah, yes, that new pilot," _the spirit muttered, ignoring her complaint for now. The LCL temperature dropped so quickly Asuka could swear the liquid crystallized in some places.

"Err, cold?" she queried, huddling together once more.

"_That bastard who, as you tell me, sells pictures of you at school, wasn't it?"_

The LCL scrubber gave a tired groan, as if it was under immense pressure. The blue and, admittedly, rather pretty, flower of flame in front of her was actually starting to turn an ugly purple at the edges.

"Shinji?" She wasn't scared. No, not at all. Just a little worried.

"_The son of a dog, who, as you tell me, mocked you about being fried by the Fifth Angel, wasn't it?"_

"Shinji, calm down right now!" The redhead actually squeaked, seeing the monitors in front of her lose their cohesion and become warped at the corners. The fact that the command chair was vibrating like crazy wasn't helping matters either.

And just like that, everything was back to normal. The only thing that confirmed Asuka wasn't imagining things was the still lingering but quickly disappearing chunk of ice in the LCL.

"_Err, sorry about that," _the blue fireball shrunk slightly, as if afraid she'd hit it. Not that the girl wasn't tempted to do so, considering he had just scared the crap out of her.

"What the hell was _that _about, Third? You trying to freeze me to death?" the redhead yelped, waving her fist at the sheepish light source.

"_No, no, of course not," _Shinji hurried out, his blue-flamed avatar quickly retreating away from her clenched hand, _"Just can't figure out why you'd go out with him, is all."_

The redhead lowered her hand slightly, blinking in thought. Then her mouth stretched into a smirk.

"You're jealous," she stated with deep-seated amusement and satisfaction. The indignant flare of light Shinji emitted in response was also X-ray-worthy.

"_What? No! Of course not!"_

"The big nasty weapon of mass destruction's jea-lo-us!" Asuka sang, kicking her legs and swimming upwards a bit in delight.

"_Ack, Asuka, come on! I'm not jealous!" _the displaced soul whined, intellectually aware of his loss of argument but still unwilling to admit it.

"Yeah, right, you're so not jealous you didn't just try to make me into an ice sculpture," the girl grinned, intent to milk the situation for all it was worth. The blue ball of flame slumped down, as if in defeat.

"_Yeah, yeah, yuck it up, will you," _Shinji grumbled in a very put out tone. Sensing that the male soul was ready to go away for a good day-long sulk, Asuka plumped down into the command chair and returned her legs back onto the joysticks.

"You're priceless, Third Child," she giggled, "It's not like I'm not flattered, you know."

"_Yeah, yeah," _Ikari grumbled dejectedly, _"you're acting very flattered right now."_

"Oh come on, Ikari, stop sulking," Asuka chided, "I mean, sure, it's just logical that you'd fall for a girl as intelligent, pretty and charismatic as me. Nothing to be ashamed about."

"_Don't forget modest,"_ Ikari snarked back sarcastically, but in a much more lighthearted tone. Asuka swatted at the ball of fire, only for it, again, to dance away from her fist.

"Anyways, it's just for the money," Asuka assured him, lie rolling very easily off her lips, "Since your caring dad had seen fit to cut my pay _again, _I need new sources of income."

"_Isn't that, like, prostitution?"_ Shinji inquired in a thoughtful voice, to once again launch into a complex series of evasive maneuvers, Asuka's fist chasing him.

"No, idiot, it's not!" the redhead howled, enraged that her target proved to be too mobile for her wrath to hit it, "I'm not about to sleep with the jerk! I mean, really!"

"_Ok, ok, not prostitution!" _the boy assured her, laughing, then settled down between the control yokes, pulsing in amusement at her disgruntled expression.

"Nice try changing the topic," the girl commented, calming down a bit, "But don't think I forgot you were jealous of Suzuhara, either, Third Child."

"_What?" _Shinji yelped in surprise, emitting another strobe of blue light.

"Seriously, Ikari, stop doing that, or I'll need glasses before I'm twenty," Asuka grumbled, blinking away the spots in her eyes, "And you heard what I said."

"_I never said anything like that!" _the fireball cried, launching into a strange maneuver to illustrate his point. The redhead wasn't impressed, which was clearly visible from her smirk and raised eyebrow.

"_I mean, I just think he's no good for you Asuka!"_

"I'm sure you do," the redhead smirked again, "And it certainly has nothing to do with me agreeing to go out with him, either."

The sheer power of the next strobe of light would've probably left her permanently blind, had she not closed her eyes at the right moment.

"_I Am Not Jealous!" _Ikari grated out, his mental presence panting with indignation.

"Seriously, Third, stop doing this!" Asuka responded, swatting at him in annoyance. Once again, the blue flame avoided her fist easily.

"_I just think he's a stupid bastard who wants to score with you, that's all," _Shinji said with finality, a bit calmer now, _"I mean, he probably telling all his friends how he's going to get you to sleep with him right this very moment!"_

_

* * *

_

"I'm telling you, Ken, her friggen robot _threatened to kill me!" _Suzuhara Toji howled in despair, clutching his head and pleading for some empathy from his companion with his bloodshot eyes.

Aida Kensuke wasn't being very empathic right now.

"Let me get this straight," the otaku said, readjusting his glasses, tone strangely detached, "You were made a pilot of the coolest, most awesome weaponry platform in the form of a giant robot, got to see 'Over the Rainbow', of all things, a vintage super-aircraft carrier I heard _legends _about, got to fight a real Angel, and now you also have a date with the arguably hottest girl at school, her being bald notwithstanding. And you have the utter gall to whine about it?"

The jock gripped his hair in agitation.

"You moron, didn't you hear what I say at all? I didn't want to be a friggen pilot in the first place! I had to quit the basketball team because of it! And I spent half the time _in prison_ while on your stupid ship! And now a giant robot is going to kill me!"

Once more, Kensuke's glasses were readjusted with a dark chuckle, this time in a way that made them reflect the sun and glint malevolently, his eyes invisible.

A second passed in silence.

"Curse you, Suzuhara Toji!" Aida roared, grabbing his companion by the lapels suddenly and shaking him roughly, "I'm so jealous of you I could punch you! How dare you whine about such a great thing happening to you?"

"You just don't get it, do you?" the newly-made pilot sighted, breaking his friend's grip easily and rubbing his eyes, "Let me put it more clearly: _A giant purple robot is trying to kill me!_"

"It's a robot, Suzuhara," Kensuke dismissed, slumping back into his seat in the fast food joint the boys were currently occupying, "It can't think on its own."

"Maybe it's an AI or something, I don't know!" the jock exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation, "And it's getting worse! I feel like I'm being watched all the time now! When I booted up my laptop today, my wallpaper was changed to a grave-mark that had my name on it! And it had a purple bow around it! And when I was riding the train to school the camera inside was _staring directly at me! _And the electronic advertisement signs keep blacking out and showing Error 404 whenever I come near them! And the text turns _purple, _Kensuke, _purple!"_

"Oh, you're exaggerating," Kensuke shrugged airily, opening his laptop, "Now tell me all you know about the Eva!"

"Why am I still friends with you?" Toji sighted, slumping in his seat and rubbing his temples in irritation.

* * *

"Oh, come off it, Third Child," Asuka calmly commented, leaning back in her chair, "there's no need to tell me how bad he is, I'm perfectly aware of all his numerous flaws."

"_He's male, Asuka," _Shinji fired back, the flame burning a bit brighter than usual, _"I know what I was always thinking about before I got stuck here."_

"Charming," the girl snorted, "And I take it you're all different now?"

The blue fireball stopped all movement, as if in disbelief.

"_Asuka," _Shinji's voice finally said, a bit embarrassed by her lack of understanding, from the sound of it, _"I sorta lack the proper hormones at the moment."_

"Oh," the redhead found herself strangely disappointed at that revelation, but decided to make light of it, "So, you don't think I'm pretty then?"

"_I know you're attractive on a conscious level," _the Third Child answered, his avatar floating in the orange liquid, _"But it's like remembering what I would feel if I still had a body. It's pretty disturbing, now that I think about it."_

"Oh," the german teen said again, blushing a bit despite herself as the compliment she was fishing for was so obediently provided, even if a bit too clinically, "Ok, I get it, I think. So your utter loathing for Suzuhara is also you remembering how to be jealous when you had a body?"

The blue fireball just slumped down in defeat.

"_I give up," _Ikari grumbled, _"think whatever you want. But, for the record, I'm not jealous."_

_

* * *

_

"How does the dress look? Is the wig sitting right?" the redhead spun around again in front of the mirror and threw an expectant look at her blue-haired companion.

Rei obediently raised her eyes from the book in front of her (Brave New Worldthis time) and gave her companion a careful once-over. The red-eyed girl was currently lying on the bed on her stomach, with the book between her elbows, Asuka noted with some satisfaction. It took quite some time to get Rei out of a chair, where she had always sat ramrod-straight while reading, but after countless hours of explaining the concept of comfort, Asuka had finally gotten her friend to slouch, lounge around and slump on different articles of furniture, mostly by example.

"It looks sufficient for the purpose of your outing and yes, it is positioned properly," Ayanami commented for the seventh time with the barest hint of amusement in her voice, inciting the reaction she was already familiar with: Asuka cursed at being described as merely 'sufficient' and grabbed her makeup box once again. The albino watched her for a few seconds, then returned to her book.

"Oh come on, Rei!" Asuka threw her lipstick back into the box, deciding to leave her face in peace. She was already overdoing it with the eye-liner, lipstick was a bit overkill, "This is important! What if he doesn't like how my make-up looks?"

"If your description of a typical teenager male's perception is correct," The albino shrugged lightly,

" he will not notice."

Asuka cursed once more and grabbed the lipstick again, quickly applying it, then looked into the mirror.

God, now she looked like a fifteen-year old hooker.

"Gah! What the hell!" the german screamed, quickly nabbing a wet paper towel and washing off her efforts, "Why the hell am I doing this, anyways?"

"Was that a rhetorical question?" Ayanami inquired, again raising her head and throwing Asuka an honestly confused look. Upon receiving an irritated nod as an answer, the albino buried her nose in her reading again.

Asuka bored her friend with a glare for a few seconds, then turned back to the mirror, making minute adjustments to her wig's positioning. Why the hell was she so nervous anyways? Rei was right; the jerk probably wouldn't notice it anyways.

The doorbell ringing distracted her from her ministrations. Quickly spinning around, the redhead threw a desperate look at her companion, than jogged towards the bathroom where she had left her purse. Rei followed her with her eyes, holding the same mildly amused look, then got up from the bed and went to open the door.

"Rei!" Asuka hissed, then rolled her eyes when the girl in question turned to her, confused, "Put a shirt on first!"

Confusion gave way to understanding and the albino quickly (but efficiently, as with everything that she did) threw on her top and shorts, covering the unusually pale skin, then made her way towards the doorway. Well, the redhead reasoned, at least Rei now wore her undies at home, which was a huge improvement form before and, considering the incredibly hot weather that ruled the planet after the Second Impact, was barely acceptable. What wasn't acceptable was Rei's habit (that Asuka was still breaking her out of) to open the doors in her constantly underdressed state, thought the face the food delivery guys always made was worth a laugh or three.

Quickly grabbing her purse, the redhead threw a look inside, taking stock of her feminine arsenal. Paper towels – check; comb – check; money and ID – check; mobile – check; brass knuckles (that was Asuka's idea of pepper spray, which, considering the insane amount of martial arts she had been trained in, was rather much more practical) – check. Nodding to herself, the girl took a calming breath, than leaned against the wall, threw a look at her watch and started counting seconds. Two minutes should be enough, she figured. Outside, Ayanami's faint voice was heard, telling Suzuhara that Asuka was almost ready and inviting him inside to wait a bit. The pilot of Unit 01 smiled slightly: she had trained Rei extensively for the better part of the day about this moment.

Finally deciding that Toji was left sweating for long enough, the redhead took another breath, plastered a smile on her face and opened the door, quickly striding towards the den.

What she had found inside the sitting room left her smile slowly sliding off her face.

He was in his tracksuit. Of course he was in his tracksuit. Why did she even bother thinking that he'd dress up a bit for a date with her, the most beautiful girl there was? Hell, the stupid bastard probably figured it wasn't worth it to simply throw on a white shirt and dress pants. But, apparently, Toji's idea of dressing up was donning that stupid hat he had worn on 'Over the Rainbow' on the first day.

That by itself was forgivable, after all, he was only fifteen and male, so some errors were expected, besides, it was the thought that counted. The lack of flowers, or chocolate or _anything_, was also forgivable, as was the fact that he hadn't noticed her when she had entered the room.

What wasn't forgivable was the leer he was eyeing the obvious albino's exposed mid-rift with.

By now Asuka's smile looked more like a snarl of a deranged wolf sick with rabies.

Oh, and Ayanami was currently instructing Suzuhara in the proper use of condoms.

'God, take me now,' Asuka's inner romantic whimpered, apparently unable to deal with her dream of the date with Suzuhara being washed down the toilet.

Still, the german teen was intent on making something out of her evening, even if it killed Toji. After all, it couldn't get worse, could it?

"Ow!" the boy grabbed the back of his head where Asuka's slap had landed, then finally noticed who it was that hit him. With surprising speed, the boy crashed down onto the floor into a supplicant position, face in the carpet between his pleading hands. Asuka blinked. That wasn't normal dating practice in Japan, was it?

"Please, Sohryu, please call it off!" the boy whimpered pathetically, still holding his position, face down between his hands, "I'll do anything! I'll give you the money. I'll be your slave, if I have to, but please, don't let it kill me!"

"Err, Fourth?" the girl in question inquired, studying her date and wondering whether she should be angry or not.

"I'm sorry for whatever I've done!" Suzuhara continued to wail, still not daring to raise his head, "I apologize! I'll never insult you anymore! Please, forgive me!"

The redhead exchanged a look with an equally surprised Ayanami, for now undecided if she should call for a brigade of Nerv sanitarians to take the obviously insane boy away or not, then put her bag down onto the couch and kicked Suzuhara to stop his still ongoing lament.

"Shut up and tell us what the hell you're going about already, Forth!"

"As if you don't know, devil girl!" Toji scowled from the floor, still holding his crouch, then visibly flinched, "I mean, oh most great Sohryu-sama!

"No, Suzuhara, I don't know," the german teen hissed out with infinite (for her) patience, "Or I wouldn't be asking, now would I?"

The boy finally lifted his face to throw her a very surprised look, then studied her for a second for any deception. Apparently seeing that there was none, he finally stood up, with a very put-out look on his face. Only now did Asuka notice that his eyes were surrounded with huge bags from the lack of sleep, and his left eyebrow was twitching constantly in a nervous tick.

"So you didn't sic your Eva on me?" he inquired with suspicion, eyes still darting from side to side. The redhead raised her brow at that, still not quite getting it.

"Sic my Eva on you?" she repeated slowly, then, equally slowly, started to squeeze the couch edge, as the pieces clicked together.

"Yeah, damn it!" the boy before her hissed in an urgent whisper, "The damn thing has been stalking me ever since I asked you out! I can't even turn my laptop on anymore, it's always there, watching me with these freaky eyes! And it sends me pictures of it killing me per e-mail! Call it off already! Please!"

Taking the sincere plea in and rolling her eyes at the pathetic male in front of her, Asuka released the couch and sighed tiredly, pulling her wig off. The damned thing made her head itch like crazy, anyways.

"It's ok, Fourth, stop freaking," she instructed, turning her attention back to Toji, "I didn't set him on you, he's just being a jealous bastard."

"It's a robot, Sohryu!" Suzuhara fired back, scowling darkly, "If you didn't set it on me, someone else must've!"

Ah, Asuka remembered. She hadn't bothered to tell anyone about the ghost haunting her Evangelion. The Commander and the Sub-Commander had made it quite clear that this tidbit of information was to remain a secret at all cost, even going so far as to threaten her with treason charges, should she reveal it to anyone, including her fellow pilots. There was the fact that she didn't really want to tell anyone about her spiritual companion as well, since she came to view Shinji as someone with whom only _she _could talk, and who wouldn't repeat anything she said to anyone else, since he basically couldn't. It was a bit selfish of her to think of him as her _possession, _she admitted to herself, thought it was rather hard _not _to, him being stuck inside an inanimate object and all. Nevertheless, she had been studiously avoiding the subject with Ayanami without any adverse guilty feelings.

Now, however, Shinji had basically blown the secret wide into the open and she now _had _to explain it to the Forth child, before he broke down into a gibbering mess (and that wasn't far into the future if things went on as they were, from the looks of it).

"Ok, Fourth, sit down," the redhead barked, tossing her fake hair onto the nearby chair and striding towards the kitchen, "I'll make some tea and explain."

Ayanami followed her with a neutral expression, then, when they were alone and the german teen busied herself with the kettle, lifted an eyebrow slowly, as if demanding an explanation.

"I'll tell you both together, go keep him company, please," Asuka commanded, desperately needing a minute or two to come up with a convincing lie. The albino simply nodded, her blue hair bobbing with the movement, then strode out again, closing the door just a tad more sharply then was normal. Damn, she was pissed, the redhead thought.

But Rei was easy. She'd just dismiss the matter as soon as Asuka mentioned she'd been prohibited to tell her by the commander, maybe even bitch her out for disclosing sensitive information (that bitching out would consist of a calmly delivered sentence or two and nothing more, but the redhead had come to know her roommate well enough in the last months). It was convincing Suzuhara that was the problem.

Finally, with the tray housing three steaming teacups in hands and a dose of bullshit on her mind, the girl confidently strode out into the den, planting a firm scowl onto her face, then put her burden onto the low table before the TV and gestured for her fellows to serve themselves.

Planting herself on the floor, opposite to her audience, she took a sip of the beverage and marshaled her thoughts into order.

"Suzuhara," she began carefully, "You remember what I told you about Ikari Shinji?"

The boy actually flinched, probably remembering the kick that had accompanied her telling him about it, then nodded slowly. Ayanami showed no reaction, calmly sipping from her cup, and Asuka once again marveled at the girl's ability to keep a poker-face.

"Well, I'd better just show you," the redhead finally decided, rising again and going into her room, only to return with her trusty Nerv laptop. The thing was great, and outstripped her own PC hardware by several degrees of magnitude, but, sadly, demanded completely customized software, produced exclusively by Nerv, as well as equally custom-made removable drives and cables, making it impossible to hook up to anything outside the Headquarters. It also didn't support most of Asuka's shooter games, which had been a topic of great discontent back when she first received it almost three years ago.

Opening her find, the girl set the laptop before her companions and quickly entering her password, started up the necessary file. On screen, the footage showed the night-sky of Tokyo-3, as well as the ugly contorted form of the Third angel. Hitting play, the redhead left the laptop alone, letting both Rei and Toji watch the fight that ended Shinji's life but not his existence.

Reinforcing her nerves with another sip of tea once the last pained scream faded, the girl calmly closed up the computer and looked over her audience. Suzuhara was quite pale, tea forgotten, while Ayanami just sat there solemnly, thought she desisted from all movement altogether, probably still blaming herself for what she saw as her own failure.

"Well," Asuka trailed off, chasing the picture of the Eva getting gored in the head by an energy spike, "As you can see, it wasn't pretty. The Angel pretty much massacred him as soon as he came onto the surface. The neural shock was so strong that he wasn't prepared for it and went into shock, followed by cardiac arrest."

There, cold and clinical explanation. It'd do, she figured, while Suzuhara just stared at her, clueless.

"Err, cardi-what?" he queried, scratching his head and causing the german to sigh in annoyance.

"His heart stopped from the pain of being stabbed through the eye with an energy lance," she finally explained after gracing her companion with a look that clearly stated he was stupider then her left shoe.

"Oh," was all Toji could come up with, eyes wide. Ayanami just nodded.

"Yes," Asuka smirked mirthlessly, "Oh. So, anyways, when something like that happens, the HQ just activates the heart massage function of the plug-suits. They kick in, resuscitate and stabilize the pilot, and then he can continue combat. I went through simulations of this happening. It's not as bad as it sounds, really." Suzuhara's disbelieving look told her that he disagreed, but she forged on, regardless.

"So, anyways, they initiated the heart massage with Ikari, but as you could see, something went wrong. No-one knows what, exactly, but, apparently, his brain started to die as soon as his heart stopped. And not like normally, cell by cell, from oxygen absence, but all at once. So, it was completely dead in seconds. They couldn't bring him back. With me so far?"

Toji nodded dumbly, eyes still wide, jaw hanging open a bit.

"They stop your heart as a simulation?" he squeaked, very much shocked. Ayanami put her cup down, still dispassionate and nodded calmly.

"It is a training procedure that isn't practiced anymore due to the high risks involved. It was, however, standard for all pilots before the protocols had been reevaluated by the UN five years ago."

The sheer look of relief on Suzuhara's face was mildly amusing.

"Can I go on now?" Asuka asked sarcastically, then went on without waiting for approval:

"After that, as you know, Rei, I was transferred here a week later, since you were still injured, right? Well, since Ikari died, the Eva started acting on its own. I'm told it was small things at first, like twitching fingers or tilting head, but as time went on, more and more so. It turns around to help the techs do maintenance on it now."

Taking another sip, the girl continued, seeing that Suzuhara was firmly enraptured in her tail.

"Akagi told me that since there was some pretty high-level synch activity during the fight, the Eva managed to download some of Ikari's mind into itself. No-one can figure out just how much, but enough to build its own personality, so to speak. It's not self-aware, since it's basically a robot, but it acts like Ikari would've acted in its place. Makes sense to you?"

"Err, yes?" Suzuhara inquired tentatively, making it clear that he, in fact, couldn't make sense out of the explanation. Rei looked contemplative.

"It used the information from Ikari's brain to reprogram itself," Asuka elaborated tiredly, wondering at her own ability to lie so easily, and causing Toji to nod finally in understanding.

"Ok, fine," Suzuhara concluded, "What does it have to do with it stalking me?"

"Well," Asuka drawled, "apparently, it took a liking to me and now it's jealous. And since it's hooked up to the Magi…"

"It can hack my laptop," Suzuhara finished, light dawning, "That's seriously freaky, Sohryu."

This earned him a raised eyebrow and a 'You're telling me?' expression from Asuka.

"Well, you shouldn't worry, Suzuhara," the redhead elaborated, sipping her tea again, "Akagi says it's supposed to fade with some time, but they can't reprogram it, since it'd take months, and with the Angels attacking so sporadically…"

"Ah," the Fourth Child nodded, taking another sip on his own, than leaned back, stretching, "I get it then. But it can't really do anything to me, can it?"

"Of course not, Suzuhara," the girl scowled, swilling her almost empty cup around a bit and studying the stray leaf at the bottom, "Besides, it's restrained and can't really move without power. Your hide's safe. Any other questions?"

The boy shook his head, so Asuka turned to Ayanami, who in turn just shook her head in negative.

"What, not a single one?" the redhead arched her eyebrow, causing the albino to shrug elegantly, giving the gesture an unsettling amount of grace.

"Unit 00 also experiences lapses of strange behavior, thought they are much more sporadic, probably due to its nature as a prototype," she answered, setting her cup down and straightening her back unconsciously, then slouching back into relaxation quickly at Asuka's sharp glance, "It is of no surprise to me that Unit 01 exhibits similar tendencies. What bothers me is the fact that you neglected to mention this before."

"The commander told me not to," Asuka shrugged easily, then almost smiled as Rei immediately nodded and dismissed the whole matter entirely. It was almost sad how much of her life the girl centered around the Bastard: the brainwashing must have been very through.

The next few minutes were spent in contemplative silence, as Suzuhara mulled the received information over. Finally, the boy dug out a large envelope that obviously housed the promised money out of his jacket and dropped it onto the table, then rose, stretching with obvious enjoyment. Seeing that, Asuka started reaching for her wig, thinking that the date could finally proceed, but was in for a nasty surprise.

"Sorry, Langley, here's the cash, but the date's off."

The redhead actually recoiled in surprise. That had never happened to her before. Her short moment of complete incomprehension was quickly replaced by searing anger.

"What?" She hissed out, also standing and gripping the table hard enough for her fingers to become white.

"You're too much trouble," the jock carelessly elaborated, shrugging, "I mean, sure, you're easy on the eyes, but you've got a personality of a crazy gorilla, you're violent, hate my friends' guts and now it turns out your Eva stalks anyone who tries to date you? I'm out."

He never saw the fist coming.

* * *

Sohryu Asuka Langley was not in a good mood at the moment.

Here she was, on a Saturday, in school, seeing that it was Japan, nursing a headache she had acquired the evening before from continuously ranting for 15 minutes without taking a breath, as well as still seething over Suzuhara dumping her rather roughly before their first date had even begun properly. There was also the matter of Ikari Shinji to consider, who, as it turned out, scared Suzuhara off by stalking him with the help of the Magi. The redhead calmly relished the fact that she'd put the spirit out of his misery as soon as she was back inside Unit 01's entry plug, no matter how difficult the challenge might prove.

Seeing that Suzuhara was busy recovering at Nerv's clinic after the beating she had delivered at his impromptu change of plans (Rei had to restrain her yesterday so that the limping Toji could escape), she was unable to continue his reeducation at the moment, and the fact that Hikari was _still _not talking to her for whatever reason, the redhead chose to spend the lunch break with Ayanami as her only company, but the Albino was too preoccupied with the class science project, to which she had taken with an almost scary enthusiasm.

Currently the girl's blue hair was barely visible, since she had her head and both her arms inside some kind of self-built mechanical monstrosity she claimed was a particle accelerator. Asuka had seen particle accelerators before, and she was pretty sure, whatever Ayanami was building wasn't one, but hey, whatever floated the reclusive girl's boat. Asuka's own project, a simple self-built laptop processor, which she'd made during her Uni times and was intent to recycle for the school task, since she still had all her notes, seemed rather pathetic in comparison.

Apparently done with whatever she had been working on in the innards of her creation, Ayanami reappeared, cheek smudged with machine oil, and a slight smile of satisfaction on her face. Asuka scowled deeply, seeing her roommate being so cheerful at the moment, thought it was probably for the best that the blue-haired girl was showing some emotion at least. Putting away her tools, the albino finally noticed the german girl's presence (despite the fact that the redhead had been sitting here for 20 minutes already), and cocked her head to the side.

"Asuka," she stated (the redhead had strictly instructed her to be referred to by her forename, not as 'Pilot Sohryu'), "Can I help you with something?"

"Just didn't want to sit alone in the schoolyard," the redhead commented glumly, fiddling with one of Ayanami's blueprint sheets, "Hikari's still not talking to me."

"Ah, I see," Rei nodded, taking seat and rubbing her hands off with a convenient rug, "She is still displeased that Classmate Suzuhara preferred your company to her own."

"What?" Asuka almost fell from her chair, quickly regaining her balance before looking at Ayanaim's serene face with great surprise, "You mean she's got a thing for Suzuhara?"

Ayanami calmly nodded, discarding the rug and starting to put away her things, since the lunch break was almost over and they still had to walk from the engineering classroom to their homeroom on the other side of the school building. Seeing that the albino wasn't about to elaborate, Asuka scowled darkly.

"And why is it the first time I hear about it?" she snarked, causing her companion to pause in her efforts to roll the heavy table, on top of which her even more heavy monstrous Magnus Opus lay, towards the room's corner, where the rest of their classmates' work was stored.

"I thought it would be obvious to anyone, let alone you, as you are my instructor in the department of human social interactions," the blue-haired girl replied easily, before giving her burden another shove. The workbench rolled another meter before coming to a stop. Asuka sighted and stood up, grabbing the table as well. Finally, huffing and puffing, the two girls managed to wrest the monstrosity into its proper place, between Kensuke's table housing something that looked like a portable automated back scratcher and Keiko's… something (it consisted mostly of chains and reminded Asuka of a torture rack with something like a falos-immitator attached to it in a strategically correct but very inappropriate position. There was definitely something off with that Keiko girl…).

"So," Asuka drawled, finally forcing her gaze off the nameless contraption, "Hikari's got a crush on the worthless Fourth Child, and she's pissed he asked me out. Ok, I get it. Now, why the hell didn't Horaki say anything?"

"You are, to her, a rival," Rei elaborated, thinking the question was addressed at her, "And thus not an option to confine in." The redhead just waved her hand at that.

"Yeah, I can see that. Jeez, what a mess. I'd better find Hikari and tell her the little bastard dumped me." Asuka grumbled, smarting over the rejection from a boy she had actually shown a modicum of interest in and once more promising to herself to re-kill Ikari Shinji in the most painful manner possible.

"Do you believe the Class Representative's disposition towards you will change if she is made aware of that fact?" Ayanami inquired, looking curious, "From your description of female behavior, she could still scorn you for Suzuhara's choice to invite you to an outing. Was I mistaken?"

The redhead sighed. Rei was still rather uneducated in the finer points of social interaction, but in this instance she was probably right: Hikari could very well remain pissed at her.

"I'll just explain that I didn't know she was interested in the little maggot, or I would've never accepted," the german shrugged, trying to sound confident. Once more, Rei's raised eyebrow informed her of her failure, but the albino just nodded calmly and didn't pursue the issue.

"I see," was all she said, then, finally done packing up, closed her book bag and stood, followed by Asuka. Their track to the homeroom was interrupted, however.

Their telephones rang simultaneously.

* * *

"Ok, listen up, kids," Major Katsuragi Misato puffed out from behind a cloud of smoke, for once all business, "Rits and her crew are still cleaning out the CNS errors from Unit 00, so Rei's backup. Asuka, keep the rookie in line."

"Gotcha," Asuka chirped, setting her coffee cup onto the table and glaring darkly at Toji, who was scowling and tugging at his plug-suit, his face covered in bruises.

The three teens, as well as Misato, Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki, and a bunch of other people, were currently positioned all over the rather cramped briefing room, which was, surprisingly enough, almost half the size of their de-briefing room, and much worse stocked on electronics (Asuka still had trouble comprehending why they needed two rooms for this), and being the pilot, a girl and a minor, Asuka had acquired a chair for herself and Rei, leaving Fuytsuki and Toji to stand, the former as petty revenge and the later as a part of her newly-formed master-plan to utterly destroy the jerk.

Misato was also seated, with Kaji lazing against the wall in the background, almost invisible behind the others.

"The target is approacheing from the sea and will enter interception range in a bit less than an hour," Misato continued, ignoring the dirty looks people gave her cancer stick, "We're going to hit it as soon as it passes the shoreline here to minimize collateral in the city. Its AT field shows unusual fluctuations we're unfamiliar with, so we're unsure how successful a long-range engagement will be. The plan is for Toji to snipe from the distance with the positron rifle while Asuka closes in and engages in melee. _If_ long range attacks prove effective, Asuka, you'll switch to hit and run tactics, keeping it busy for Suzuhara to continue his shooting uncompromised. If long-range has no effect, Toji, you will support Asuka at medium range from this position with the pallet rifle. Take shots only if you have a clear line of fire."

The map in front of the Ops Director obediently highlighted the relevant positions, while Ritsuko scratched away on her clipboard with maddening speed. The fact that the scientist wasn't smoking gave clear indication to where exactly the Ops Director's own cigarette came from. Misato probably stole it on the way to the meeting, Asuka thought with a smirk.

"We're deploying field generators as power sources, so don't draw the engagement out, both of you; they can run without problems for only an hour, tops."

"Won't need an hour," Asuka commented, studying the satellite picture of what appeared to be a blob of alien flesh with mild disgust, "This thing looks surprisingly soft. Any idea what dirty tricks it has?"

"None," the major shook her purple mane, throwing a disgruntled look at the ignorant Ritsuko, "The Magi estimate low to none ranged capabilities, but, considering the last time they said it, you got fried by the Fifth, I'd suggest that you be prepared for anything. Me and Rits are moving out with the mobile command center and will be positioned here, so try not to step on us. Questions?"

There were none, thought Suzuhara wasn't looking very excited by the prospect of fighting an Angel in his own, barely obeying, Evangelion.

"Ok, move out then. We'll load you onto the planes as soon as the plugs are flooded and you're topside, so stay in intermediate to conserve power. Good hunting."

"Aye-aye, Ma'm," Asuka smirked, saluting sloppily, then marched off towards Unit 01's cage, giving Ayanami a smile on her way. Suzuhara trudged behind her, still limping a bit and causing the girl to smile in satisfaction.

"Ok, Sohryu," he started, catching up to her and rubbing one of his black eyes, "You're boss here. What do I do?"

"Weren't you listening, Arshloch?" Asuka hissed, resisting the urge to knock the prick out completely, "You're sniping. Hit me and I'll kill you in the slowest way I can think of, you got that?"

Suzuhara obviously got that indeed, if his expression was of any indication, but mustered his courage and continued to walk beside her.

"Look, Sohryu, I ain't saying I was right to just tell you to piss off, when I was the one who asked you out, ok? I just figured, we still need to work together, y'know?"

Asuka discovered that the slow hiss she was hearing was actually caused by her very own voice box.

"You actually have the gall to make excuses?" she glowered dangerously, still not looking at the boy, "The only reason I'm not thinking about leaving you to fend for yourself is that you'll trash Unit 02 and we still need it in the future. _You_ can go and die, for all I care."

Toji jerked, as if struck, but continued:

"Look, it's my first launch…"

"Coward," the redhead spat out, jerking her card through the door card reader and entering the corridor between her own Unit 01's cage and observation room, then turning around to finally look at Suzuhara, who was following behind her, "I rip my ass open over getting you up to speed on piloting, I listen to you whining about your sister, I even agree to go out with you; and after you dump me because I'm not 'worth the effort' to you, you have the utter gall to come running to me at the first sign of trouble? I despise you, Suzuhara."

Taking a deep breath after her little tirade, the girl stalked on, leaving her fellow pilot behind, gaping like a fish. She still had another verbal smack-down to deliver.

Jumping up the small set of metallic stairs leading to her entry plug, Asuka straightened her shoulders for the main event she had been looking forward to all day long, only to pause slightly as Unit 01's purple head dipped in greeting.

She was about to enter combat. And Shinji had already proven that having him on her side greatly increased her chances of survival. Was it really such a great idea to piss off her wingman just before a fight with a gigantic extraterrestrial?

On the other hand, the redhead didn't think she could say anything hurtful enough to actually stop Ikari from getting her ass out of the fire if the need was dire enough. She was also angry enough to chew through steel at the moment, having psyched herself up for a good rant at the Third Child for the last 12 hours. She also couldn't condone what he had done, since it'd set a precedent, which she _really_ didn't want. Who'd be next? Kaji?

She needed to put him on the defensive and keep him there, the girl decided, nodding to herself. If he was on the defensive, he wouldn't get a chance to find fault in her. She also had to desist from insulting him overmuch, lest he actually get pissed off and leave her to fend for herself. The same went for upsetting him too much. She couldn't have him go off sulking before the fight. Ok, that was doable.

Her resolve back online, the girl glared hatefully at the Evangelion's left eye, then stormed on into the entry plug, pausing only to nod at Lt. Tanaka, who was currently supervising the capsule loading procedures.

Planting herself onto the command chair, the girl waited patiently until the dull thud sounded overhead, informing her that she was sealed inside the Eva. The LCL came soon after, and the teen started to synch out of reflex, ignoring the customary flash of multicolored chaos around her as the liquid was ionized. The warmth flooded the plug soon after, followed by the visual screen spanning out before her, as well as the blue ball of light sitting calmly on one of her control yokes.

'_Hey Asuka,' _Shinji begun, only to receive a glare in response.

"Be quiet for a second," the girl snarled, then opened a channel to Misato.

"I'm synched, you can launch me," she curtly informed the Major, getting a nod in return.

"Do me a favor and keep an eye on Suzuhara, would you?" Katsuragi asked, her customary coffin-nail hanging loosely from her mouth corner.

"Yeah-yeah, I'll keep the little maggot alive," the teen grumbled, switching the channel off and leaning back in her chair, preparing for the acceleration from the catapult. The blue fireball remained obediently silent, thankfully, though Asuka could tell from its dimmed light that Ikari was slightly confused. Good.

Finally, after the uncomfortable feeling of being smashed into the chair by the insane speed of her ascend ended, the german teen marched the Evangelion to the waiting plane, strapped herself onto it by the shoulder pylons, ejected the power cable and switched to the intermediate mode. Then she turned towards the expectant ball of blue fire.

"How dare you?" she hissed out with as much anger as she could muster. Considering that she had spent the whole day preparing for this, it was quite a lot. The blue fireball actually jumped in surprise, jerking away from her.

'_W-What?' _Shinji stammered out, obviously unprepared for her ire.

"W-what?" Asuka mocked in her best whiny voice, "You have the nerve to ask? I'm talking about your little stalking session, du Arshloch!"

'_Stalking session?' _Shinji inquired carefully, having obviously already caught on, the handful of blue light cringing even further away and dimming further in fear. With good reason, considering the facial expression the girl in front of it currently wore. The german teen took a carefully controlled lungful of LCL, let it out slowly, then slammed her fist into the capsule wall with as much force as she could muster.

_'Ow! What was that for?' _Shinji whined, more surprised then hurt.

"I am talking about you threatening Suzuhara, you idiot!" Asuka screamed out, wishing nothing more then to grab the blue fireball and smack it against something hard, "You fucking scared him off, you imbecile!"

"_O-oh," _Shinji got out, before another fist was slammed into the capsule wall, making the whole entry plug vibrate despite the fact that Asuka's strike had been cushioned by the yellow liquid around her.

'Oh? That's all you've got to say for yourself?" the girl snarled out, slamming her fist against the wall once again and causing the small fireball before her to flinch visibly, "How dare you stick your nose in stuff that has nothing to do with you? I'd fucking ice you if I could right now!"

"_I-I'm sorry," _Ikari's mental voice stammered out, obviously very much terrified by her vehemence. That's right, she had never really let him have it before, had she?

Asuka slammed another hit into the wall, enjoying her prey's fear, then leaned back into the command chair slowly.

"I'm giving you exactly 10 seconds to start explaining why the hell you thought you had the right to butt into my personal business, you bastard," she hissed out, visibly having to restrain herself from starting to use her feet to abuse her current victim, "and if I find your reasons insufficient, so help me god…"

"_Ok, ok, I get it!" _Shinji rushed out desperately, probably not wanting to hear what exactly she had in store for him, _"It was just a few pictures, I swear!"_

"You aren't even trying, Third Child!" Asuka hissed out, glaring a hole into the blue flame.

"_I'm sorry!" _Shinji yelped again, then shut up for a second, as if contemplating very quickly what reason would calm her ire.

"_Look, I admit it, I threatened him," _the boy conceded, then quickly went on, as if afraid she'd start punching the entry plug again, _"but I had a very good reason!"_

"I'm still waiting for that very good reason, Third," the redhead spat out coldly, "And your ten seconds are running out really fast."

"_Ok, ok, listen!" _Shinji stammered out, more put out by her cold attitude then by her anger, Asuka noted for future reference absently, _"He jumped ship as soon as I started, right? I mean, do you really want to go out with a guy who isn't willing to put up with a few threats for you?"_

"That's all?" the redhead modulated her voice to sound even more chilly, "Some lame-assed post-diction that wouldn't have happened if you kept out of my business? You aren't helping your case, Third."

"_Ack, sorry!" _Ikari rushed out, the fireball jumping up and down in front of her in a blur of blue, _"Look, do you remember what he said about why you were too much trouble? He said that the only reason he wanted to go out with you in the first place was that you were good-looking! That's totally shallow! He's a total bastard for only wanting to be with you for your looks! I mean, you're smart, have a great sense of humor, and you're very nice when you want to be! And you've got that great undefeatable spirit in you! It's a crime to ask you out only because you're gorgeous!"_

There was silence inside the entry plug after that.

"And how, exactly," Asuka ever so slowly grated out in a tone that could freeze another person's blood at a range of 100 meters at a minimum, "do you know what he said to me?"

The blue fireball froze in the LCL, resembling a blue light-bulb in his immobility and the girl could almost see the 'Oh shit!' hanging in the air between them.

"_Your flat's bugged!" _Shinji whimpered out in a voice barely above a whisper, the 'please don't kill me' joining the 'Oh shit!' and equally clear.

"What?" the girl yelped, her glare gaining the ability to destroy planets in Alpha Centauri, "And you hacked into the bugs, did you! And had a good old perv session on me and Ayanami, you asshole!"

"_What? No!" _To his credit, Shinji sounded truthfully shocked, but the girl didn't care at the moment.

"How long, Ikari?" she exploded, "How long were you fucking spying on me?"

"_I wasn't!" _the boy denied vehemently, _They were my father's bugs! I caught a report about them being installed that he was supposed to receive and thought I'd see if there was something important, so I hacked them, and after I found out, I'd tune in on you when I was feeling lonely, that's all! I'm sorry! I won't ever do it again, I swear!"_

"I see," Asuka stated hatefully, "So you've been _stalking _me, too? What the fuck is wrong with you, Third?"

"_I wasn't!" _Ikari denied again, a bit louder this time, _"I only listened in to you once or twice to check on you when there wasn't a synch test for more than three days in a row, and then tuned out again! And I just wanted to make sure Suzuhara behaved yesterday, that's all!"_

For some reason, Asuka found herself slightly mollified.

"This has to stop, Ikari," she stated after a moment of thought, still keeping her voice cold, "I mean, you're supposed to be my wingman, and now I find out you're friggen spying on me? I can't trust you if you pull stuff like that. No more secrets, no more hacking into my apartment, my cell phone, my fucking laptop or _anything _without me allowing it first."

The blue wisp of fire bobbed up and down eagerly, as if nodding. Considering the lashing she had thrown at him, Asuka figured Shinji would've agreed to being flayed alive at this point.

"Also," the redhead continued, shifting slightly to get into a more comfortable position in her command chair, "I don't need your 'protection', you got that? I'm perfectly capable of keeping myself safe on my own, and have been doing it for the last ten years, so no threatening other people, either, you got that?"

"_Yes! Of course!" _the flame 'nodded' again quickly, the boy's relief very much apparent in his voice. Apparently, he thought he was getting off easy. So did Asuka, for that matter, but considering that she was still very much flattered at being called 'gorgeous' and accused of possessing a ' great undefeatable spirit', she figured the disembodied boy had earned a respite. The fact that she, herself, had completely missed the fact that Suzuhara had, indeed, claimed her only redeeming feature were her looks, was also calculated in.

"I'm still pissed at you, Ikari," she reminded him, deciding to keep the boy on his toes, "But you aren't a complete bastard like I thought. Help me kill the Angel and I'll _think_ about letting this go."

"_Of course!" _Shinji agreed again eagerly, his avatar's brightness returning to the usual level.

"And you will tell me where these bugs are, Third Child, so that I can remove them," Asuka continued after a second of more or less comfortable silence, figuring Ikari Gendo would simply love the devices being delivered back to his office in a nice wrapping of fresh dog shit.

* * *

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Misato stated cheerfully, waving her cigarette in a lazy arc while gazing at the two children in front of her. Toji favored her with a disbelieving look, while Asuka smirked absently, studying the image on the debriefing room's holographic screen.

"It was embarrassing," Fuyutsuki disagreed, massaging his temples, "now I can expect the UN representative to complain about us destroying their ship. Thank you so much, pilot Sohryu."

"It was an accident," the redhead shrugged airily, while still watching the picture of her progressive spear sailing past Israfael, missing the angel by a large margin and hitting an anchored destroyer in the harbor three kilometers to the southeast. The recording showed the facial expressions of the two marines that were standing guard at the pier while the rest of the crew was on shore leave. As the ship sunk, with the spear sticking out of its middle, said expressions turned even more humorous, in Asuka's opinion.

"The target has been destroyed, and that's the main thing" the Major smiled, pressing out her cigarette, "we do have to work on your aim, thought, Suzuhara."

At that, the Sub-Commander let out a quiet moan, closing his eyes and renewing his temple-massage. The recording on the holo-screen obediently switched to the picture of Toji's stray shot impacting the the very same destroyer, adding insult (and complete vaporization of said ship) to injury.

"At least it didn't trash the city this time," Asuka reassured the aging man, who threw her a dirty look, with a cheerful smile, "And it didn't get to almost kill me, which is always a plus."

On the screen, Unit 01 could be seen, holding one of Israfael's incarnations, which was futilely struggling to get to its brother, with one hand while smashing the other one into its core. The Angel's other twin lay in a dead husk a few hundred meters away, its limbs charred by antimatter impacts from Suzuhara's rifle. Its core had a progressive knife sticking out of it. All in all, Asuka thought, it had been an extremely satisfying day.


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's Notes: As promised, a much quicker update the the last one. Hope you like it. Once again, please extend your thanks to BlueGlass54 for quickly and most efficiently turning my soggy draft into a solid chapter._

_Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies._

Chapter 7

Ikari Gendo's eyes studied the lump of flesh before him dispassionately from behind the orange sunglasses. Without turning around to spare his two companions so much as a look, the commander of Nerv Research Institute calmly extended his hand and ran his gloved fingers over the corpse's chest, the necrotic pale skin and flesh parting beneath his touch as if they were water, leaving the body of a dark-haired boy with four long gashes in his sternum.

The supreme commander's expression didn't change, even as one of the figures behind him stiffened. The white glove lowered once again, this time to grip the corpse's arm. There was a sick squelching sound, even though the Commander didn't apply any force at all, and the bespectacled man raised the pale arm into the air, where it hung, dripping gore onto the metallic floor, for about two seconds, before losing cohesion under its own weight and landing on the ground in an unrecognizable puddle of red goo, leaving Gendo to rub gory leftovers off his glove with his handkerchief.

"This is unacceptable," the Commander stated, finally turning away from the dead body that was lying on the gurney in the otherwise sterile and empty room, facing the Sub-Commander and Doctor Akagi and readjusting his glasses.

The blonde scientist attempted a halfhearted shrug, clipboard loosely held to her chest, though the tightening of her eyes betrayed her.

"I _have_ informed you of our technology's limitations, Commander," the woman finally spoke, crossing the room and gazing at the corpse before her with disappointment, "The accelerated growth stresses the tissue too much to make the body viable for use, and with no angelic augmentation the human AT Field is almost nonexistent and by far not strong enough to keep it from disintegrating outside of LCL."

"Could we supplement his DNA, then?" the Sub-Commander calmly inquired, carefully sidestepping the puddle on the floor to join his companions at the table, where he promptly proceeded to ignore the corpse with great care, which didn't go unnoticed, if the Commander's ever-so small and very cruel smirk was any indication.

"It _is _a possibility we could explore," the doctor agreed, throwing a surreptitious glance at her notes, "but the re-engineering of the genome will take a lot of time. We also don't have any guarantee that the soul will accept an altered body, as the original specimen wasn't angelic in nature."

"How many do we have?" Gendo queried, studying his son's clone with mild disgust.

"Three in the final development stages, with another six in earlier phases."

"Try a chemical treatment on the developing ones to strengthen the body," the commander instructed after a moment of thought, lifting his face to study the orange liquid behind the glass wall over Akagi's shoulder, "And surgically reinforce a grown one with synthetics. Keep the rest as a baseline. Also, install a control circuit into them."

Without waiting for his subordinate to nod and start scribbling, he strode over to the aquarium, gazing into the murky depths of the LCL, where the blue-haired girls were currently studying their new male companions with bland expressions.

"And separate them. I don't wish such _contamination _to continue."

* * *

This was getting ridiculous, Asuka Langley Sohryu thought as she hung a spare t-shirt over her PC's webcam, resisting the strong urge to curse violently. Currently, the bedroom was completely cleared of any electronic devices, including the laptop, her new palmtop, her cell phone and even her friggen hair-dryer (just to be sure). The only thing she couldn't move to the closet was her desktop PC, but even this piece of equipment had been disconnected from the power grid, as well as from its internet cable.

Still, only now that the small webcam had been hidden from view, did the girl feel safe enough to start changing into her sleeping clothes. Ayanami watched her from her own bed with mild curiosity.

"What?" Asuka finally snapped, sensing her roommate's gaze on her back, only to earn herself a mild shrug.

"Nothing," Rei stated, returning back to her reading and proceeding to ignore the redhead's strange behavior completely, already used to such unusual sights. The redhead just sighted, pulling on her sleeping shorts and top.

It had been a week since Israfael's destruction and in this week Asuka's paranoia had grown quite nicely, despite Shinji's assurances of no longer stalking her. After all, trust but check, as they say in Russia, and Asuka was a firm believer of this little dogma.

Still, the redhead figured, Shinji's newly-revealed ability had its uses. The Sub-Commander, for example, had become 30 thousand yen poorer, the money being deducted from his account as a fee for internet porn subscription that didn't exist and that the aging gentleman still wasn't aware of. After all, Asuka was also a firm believer of using all her resources, and, having burned Suzuhara's envelope without so much as opening it, new avenues of income were needed. Considering that Ikari was all too happy to make up for his inappropriate actions, why not put him to good use?

Suppressing a slight smile at these thoughts, the redhead finally switched off the lights and settled down onto her bed, closing her eyes contently, while ignoring Ayanami's nightlight.

The short silence, however, was interrupted by Rei's quiet voice.

"Asuka?"

"Ye-es?" the redhead drawled, cracking an eyelid open.

"What do you think of the upcoming class trip?" the albino inquired, her book now closed and her red-eyed gaze fully on her companion.

"What's to think?" the German teen smirked, stretching a bit, then sitting up and readjusting her pillow, "Sun, beach, sea, lots of opportunities to get a nice tan…"

"I… burn easily," Rei quietly admitted, in a shamed tone used to reveal one was a closet sweets addict, fidgeting with her blanket and causing Asuka to sigh a little.

The blue-haired girl had been moping about all week in her quiet way, ever since her 'particle-accelerator' (which, surprisingly enough, had actually worked, causing Akagi to freak at the impossibility when she had seen it) hadn't earned so much as a glance from the Commander when the albino had triumphantly dragged the heavy thing into the Geo-front to show off; so Asuka had been easy on her in a show of support. She had also talked Shinji into hacking the fire extinguishing system in the Commander's office into engaging once or twice for the same reason, but that was beside the point.

"Well, we'll get you some sun block tomorrow then," the sleepy girl reassured her companion, covering her yawn, "But you gotta get yourself a proper swimsuit or something. I mean, you can't go on a trip to Okinawa with your school suit."

"Why?" Ayanami naively queried, earning herself a mild glare.

"Because," Asuka drawled out slowly, as if speaking to a small child, "It'd show off your body more. Get you some attention. Make you more popular. Be more comfortable. Make you feel much better about yourself. Be…"

"You can stop, Pilot Sohryu," Rei interrupted, actually glaring a bit, which in turn made Asuka smile even more, "I already see your point."

"Excellent then," the redhead smirked, already seeing in her mind's eye what furor amongst her classmates Rei in a bikini would cause.

Her own swimsuit had been bought a day after the class trip was announced, thought it was a bit conservative in her opinion, a sporty black one-piece with an open back; but since Asuka was going for a sports-girl look, what with her still all-too-short hair and all, the redhead figured it was her best bet.

"Can I go to sleep now?" the geramn teen queried, snapping out of her reverie and suppressing another yawn. This earned her a regal nod from the albino, so Asuka settled back into lying position and closed her eyes once more.

"Asuka?"

"What?" the girl snapped, jerking up once more and turning her glare to full power. The albino was displaying a tiny mischievous grin.

"Nothing."

The glare was upgraded to 'incinerating' and the redhead suppressed the thought that she had taught her roomy a bit too well.

"_Not funny, _First," the German teen grated out, again closing her eyes and lying back down.

"Asuka?"

"I swear to god, First, I _will _suffocate you with my pillow," the redhead snapped out, not even bothering to sit up.

"I just wanted to know why I would want to attract attention with my swimsuit," Rei elaborated, tone a bit cautious.

"Boys, Rei," Asuka tiredly muttered, "You need the swimsuit so the boys find you attractive."

"Why?"

Oooh boy…

* * *

"_What?" _Asuka cried, smashing her open palms into the desk of one smug major, causing pieces of paper, unread reports, empty coffee-cups and overfilled ashtrays (three of them) to rattle about, "What do you mean, we can't go to Okinawa?"

Currently all three pilots were gathered inside the middle-sized office of their Ops Director, standing before the overfilled table and all three were directing less then amused looks at their cheerful superior.

"It's quite simple, really," Misato smirked impudently, waving her smoking cigarette about, "You're Evangelion pilots, so you have to stay here in case of an Angel attack."

"You mean I'm on permanent _standby?" _the redhead grated out, glaring hard at her purple-maned guardian, going so far as to lean forwards a bit, "That's _child-labor! _You can't do that!"

"I just did," Misato smirked with great aplomb, knocking the ash from her cigarette into the full ashtray to her left and leaning back in satisfaction, "Besides, it'd do you some good to catch up on your studies."

"Why can't the Fourth stay, and me and Rei go on the trip, then?" Asuka inquired, trying to avoid the painful topic of her marks, "I mean, then Tokyo-3 would still have an Eva pilot here, right?"

Suzuhara's glare was hardly amused.

"Fuck you, Sohryu-OW! What was that for?"

"For your gobby mouth," Asuka returned tartly, putting her foot back down and returning her attention back to her smug supervisor.

"Asuka, we can't do that. He is a rookie, after all, and you are the most experienced pilot we have," Misato explained plainly, "It would make more sense to keep you here and let Rei and Toji go on the trip, anyways."

"No, it would _not!" _the German teen snapped, knowing how childish she sounded but running out of arguments, "It's cruel and I've done nothing wrong to be punished like that!"

Misato held up a flash drive with the school emblem on it.

"I beg to differ," the major said into the ensuing silence, taking another drag from her cigarette and bumping off the ash into the right ashtray, "You thought I'd never find out, did you?"

_Should have made Shinji hack the school server, _was Asuka's only thought as she tried to rally her counterattack, but the major didn't let her, holding up another two flash drives.

"All three of you are failing miserably this semester," Misato informed them smugly, laying out the three tiny devices onto the table, "You, Asuka in Japanese language and history, Suzuhara in everything, and while Rei's written grades are average, she doesn't participate in class, so there's still room for improvement."

"I don't fail at everything!" Toji whined, stuffing his hands into his track suit's pockets, "I'm very good at sports!"

"I already finished college!" Asuka snapped, banging her palms again onto the table.

Rei opened her mouth. Rei blushed a tiny bit and closed her mouth.

Misato favored them all with an unimpressed look, then turned her smile into a glare and squashed out her nicotine stick into the middle ashtray.

"You will study and you will like it! That's an order!" she snapped, in her commanding tone this time, causing the only boy to cringe back and both girls to stand at attention involuntarily, then switched to a softer voice, "Besides, the Commander rescinded the Nerv recreation center ban for you, Asuka, so you three can still relax a bit if you do the make-up work first."

"I hate you, Misato," Asuka fumed, crossing her hands over her chest in indignation.

"Yes-yes," the older woman dismissed airily, "I'm certain you do. Now, on to the good news."

"This better be good," Suzuhara muttered out in a put upon tone of voice. For once, the redhead actually agreed with him.

"Well," Misato drawled, opening her desk drawer and pulling out a sizeable black box, "Not for you, Suzuhara. Asuka Langley Sohryu, since you've proven yourself as a levelheaded and experienced pilot, _despite _your discipline problems, and since you have the most Angel kills, as well as for your exemplary performance against the Sixth and Seventh Angels, you get promoted. Congratulations."

The redhead relaxed her face into a large grin automatically, ego soaring, but clamped down on her urge to break out into a victory dance mercilessly. Misato continued, undeterred.

"You're, as of now, no longer a test pilot under Nerv R&D Department jurisdiction, but an Evangelion Squad Leader, a newly created rank, equivalent to second lieutenant," Misato continued, waving the black velveteen box about and grinning at the way the redhead's eyes followed it, "but only within Operations Department of Nerv Research Institute, so don't go commandeering the UN forces, please."

"You're still going to have to obey the orders from the command bridge, no matter from whom they come, thought, so nothing changes in this department, but you get a nice bonus to your pay, which is now _triple _as much as I get," here, Misato's face morphed into a jealous scowl, but the major quickly returned to her semi-official tone.

"You're also, as of now, the one responsible for your fellow pilots, and they have to listen to your orders in combat. I'll forward you the list of your new rights and responsibilities at a later date. You also get this," the box vanished from her proffered hand so quickly Misato had to blink, then smiled indulgently, obviously letting Asuka have her moment.

Inside the quickly opened container the young girl found several small uniform patches in form of a silver triangle, which she'd seen worn by the Nerv Lieutenants, as well as the patches for a parade uniform, including a shoulder patch, cockade and aglets of a Japanese Sei. The only difference from the usual lt. patches was a tiny dark silver 'Eva' stitched into the triangle of the casual uniform patches.

"I'll need to dig out my uniform," Asuka muttered, her voice a bit dry with sheer giddiness, already imagining how she was going to sew the insignia onto her beige jacket.

The young teen had only worn her uniform in public once, after she had first received it when she was ten, then quickly stuffed it into the darkest corner of her closet after a day of enduring snickers from all sides, and since then indulged herself only once or twice, when the beige ensemble was altered after her growth spurts, in front of the mirror. Now, however, perhaps she would have to reconsider, Asuka reckoned. After all, she wasn't ten anymore, had grown a bit, filled out nicely and was, as of now, a friggen lieutenant, even if second class! Still, without hair, it'd probably look stupid…

"You don't actually have to wear it every day," Misato elaborated, as if reading her thoughts, "what with school and all, but for a week or two after today would be good so people know your rank, since the Commander denied an official ceremony."

Ignoring the sting of anger at the Bastard thwarting her moment of glory (and promising herself to get revenge through Shinji at a later date), Asuka recomposed herself and closed the box with a snap, greatly enjoying the jealous look on Suzuhara's mug. Rei remained impassive, obviously not caring at all about ranks and insignias.

That was probably the only thing Asuka really admired about the albino, the redhead thought absently; Ayanami would have continued piloting even if she wouldn't get anything out of it. Hell, she was ok piloting while living in a dump, without any sorts of comfort, which, brainwashed or not brainwashed, was still quite humbling. The german teen admitted to herself (in the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind), that she was very selfish, demanding praise for her deeds and piloting the Eva because it brought her recognition. Ayanami wasn't like that. The pale albino piloted so that she could protect others. It was her bond to all people, she had claimed once, when Asuka had asked her.

Shaking off the unwelcome thought at her own moral deficiency, the redhead slid the box into her book bag and sent Misato a brilliant smile, all slights forgotten.

"Well, that's all, then," Misato smiled back, then lit the next cigarette, "Ritsuko's busy, so no synch tests today. You can get a head start on your assignments from school, and I'll be checking on you from time to time, so no slacking off either. And Asuka, congratulations again."

"Thanks, Misato," the girl said honestly, grinning from ear to ear, then skipped out of the major's office with a cheerful wave, Toji and Rei following her much more sedately.

* * *

"Rookie, another coffee," Asuka ordered the next day, clad in her swimsuit and relaxing in a chaise lounge at the pool side, her school lap top on her knees, her smirk only widening at Suzuhara's hateful glare, "and don't make me make it an order!"

The boy shuffled off, grumbling, and Asuka permitted herself a relaxed gaze at her new slave's swim-trunks-clad back, enjoying the view, then turned to Rei, who was drying herself off with a large towel.

"Ayanami, you want something?"

"A tea would be nice," Rei immediately answered, having caught on long ago.

"And a tea too!" the redhead shouted, making Toji go rigid with loathing, before continuing on his way, mumbling quietly.

Asuka closed her eyes contently. Life was good.

After spending a moment exulting in her evilness at having made Suzuhara into her bitch through rank abuse, the german teen opened her eyes again and turned her attention back to her homework. The physics were painfully easy, as were the math exercises, but the current text analysis was stumping her with the sheer amount of mind-numbing hieroglyphs someone dared to call language.

Getting through another sentence and feeling a headache coming up, Asuka closed her laptop with determination, laying it onto the nearby table, then stood up and dived into the clear waters of Nerv's indoor pool.

After enjoying herself for a few seconds and coming back up for air, the redhead just lay on the warm water, kicking her legs lazily then turned her eyes to the returning Fourth child.

"That's not the tea Rei wanted, is it?" she asked with a bright smile and a wink into the other girl's direction, causing Ayanami to lower the cup she was about to take a gulp from with a mildly disapproving look. Still, Rei was solidary if nothing else.

"No, it is not, Pilot Suzuhara; I wished for jasmine flavor, not peach."

For a second Toji looked like he would hurl the cup into the relaxing redhead, then his expression slumped.

"Yes, ma'm, I'm very sorry," he grated out, head bowed, "I'll get you a fresh one."

"Please do," Ayanami allowed with that regal nod of hers, than returned to drying herself off.

"What exactly is going on here?" a new voice inquired, as Ritsuko Akagi strode into the pool hall, grinning thinly, white lab coat absent in favor of a field jacket, ever present clipboard in hand, "You aren't abusing your new rank, are you, Asuka?"

"No, of course not," the redhead grinned, throwing a glare at Suzuhara, "Isn't it so, Fourth Child?"

Toji looked rebellious for a second, then gave up.

"No, of course she isn't," he mumbled, head low to hide the crazed snarl he was probably spotting right now. Rei calmly nodded in assent.

"That's good," Ritsuko grinned a bit wider, obviously not believing a word of it, "But I've got to cut your rest-time short, sadly enough. Misato declared A-17."

"What?" Asuka shouted, quickly climbing out of the swimming pool and grabbing her own towel, "An Angel?"

"Oh thank God!" Suzuhara mumbled, his face brightening a bit.

"Yes," Ritsuko nodded, "We've discovered an Angel embryo inside Mount Asama, so we're going to try and retrieve it. Hurry and get dressed, we're waiting for you in the briefing room."

"Oh yes, it's our fault you've only now deigned to tell us what the fuck was going on," Asuka grumbled as soon as the door closed behind the hurrying scientist, but grabbed her laptop and bag nonetheless, motioning for her fellow pilots to follow.

After dumping their stuff in their lockers and changing into their school clothes, or, in Asuka's case, her freshly-ironed Nerv uniform she had spent the last night altering to display her new rank (the redhead was very satisfied with her new look as a whole, considering that Japanese people weren't very tall to begin with and that she now rivaled quite a few women at Nerv in the chest area), the trio of pilots tromped to the briefing room, where the sight of a scowling Major Katsuragi greeted them, obscured by a large cloud of smoke.

"Ok, are you _absolutely sure _the suit can take it?" Misato was asking, while her blonde friend scratched at some report with furious strokes. The whole atmosphere spoke of tense excitement.

"Yes, major, as much as one can be sure of any piece of untested equipment," the doctor returned a bit sharply, then pulled off her glasses to clean them with the edge of her already-re-equipped lab coat.

"Equipment? Suit?" Asuka dared ask, drawing the two women's attention towards the pilots.

"Ah, there you three are," Misato smirked in grim satisfaction, then motioned at the chairs.

"The plan is as follows," Katsuragi elaborated as they took their seats, "the Angel had been detected deep inside a secondary vent of Mount Asama volcano, and, from our scans, is still in embryo stage of development, so the Commander wants it taken alive, if possible. That's our primary objective."

The Major took a deep calming drag on her cigarette and stabbed her finger into the holographic display, currently projecting the volcano in cross-section. The small red light blinking inside one of the side vents was a bit too deep for Asuka's liking.

"How the hell are we going to get it out?" the girl inquired, causing the major to throw her an uncharacteristic glare.

"If you'd let me finish," Misato drawled out dangerously, and only now did Asuka notice the unhealthy fanatic gleam in the older woman's eyes. She backed down quickly out of sheer surprise. The older woman nodded in satisfaction.

"_If_, and I stress the 'if', the Angel, codenamed Sandalphon, shows signs of activity, the objective changes to destroying it. We need the little fucker alive, thought, so don't mess up, got that?"

"Excuse me?" the redhead hissed, her ego not letting her stay silent. Misato ignored her.

"Unit 02 is being outfitted with D-Type equipment that, as Ritusko assures me, can withstand the heat and the pressure. We will break the stone plumb covering the vent exit with a short laser burst and then Suzuhara's Eva will be lowered into the magma. According to the projection, the Angel is at the depth of 1200 meters, so we have little margin in the equipment threshold. You only get one chance in this, Toji. We'll outfit Unit 02 with a magnetic cage as well; deploy it the first opportunity you get. Once you have Sandalphon, drag him back to the surface and we'll take it from there. Asuka, you and Unit 01 are on standby on site, assisting as ordered. Rei, you're to remain at the Geofront as last line of defense, ready for deployment if we mess up."

Taking another lungful of smoke and ignoring Asuka's disgruntled expression, and thus adding much to the redhead's rising ire, the major pressed another key combination, forcing the hologram before them to display several high altitude planes circling the volcano like vultures.

"These nice guys will be dropping lots of N2s on us if something goes wrong. It better _not _go wrong, you get me?"

"Why the hell is Suzuhara the one diving?" the redhead dared inquire, greatly displeased with Misato's decision, "You said yourself, he's a rookie."

"D-type suit is designed for Unit 02 only, Asuka," Akagi cut in, throwing the glowering major a strange, mildly disapproving look, "And while you can pilot it, I doubt Suzuhara can synch with Unit 01. Since we're better off with three Evas, you're stuck on assist duty."

"His synch is _27%, _Akagi-san," the redhead disagreed, crossing her arms and earning herself another glare from the major, who was obviously displeased with the insubordination, but not caring very much, "He can barely move Unit 02 as it is, and you want him inside a friggen volcano? In some kind of untested equipment? With a magnetic cage he's never had to use before in simulations? Are you nuts?"

That gave both older woman pause. Toji grumbled in the background.

"Hmm, I see your point," Akagi finally conceded, biting the temple arm of her spectacles in thought, then quickly threw a look at her clipboard, while Misato just fumed.

"Magi say our best chance is with two Evas on site. We _could _have Rei on standby, but that leaves HQ unprotected," the scientist finally delivered her verdict, putting down her notes.

"That's not viable," Katsuragi immediately shot the idea down, ignoring Asuka's raised eyebrow, "The Commander insisted on Rei remaining here. Don't ask me, why, I don't know."

A minute of silence passed, all people present thinking the problem over, then a light bulb glowed in Asuka's head.

"Unit 01'll work for Suzuhara if you give me a few minutes of synch in the entry plug," the German teen finally said, thought the very thought of letting _Suzuhara_, of all people, into her Eva's cockpit made her shudder, "It won't be even close to my synch ratio, but better than nothing, I suppose."

"Wait, what?" Toji exploded, jerking up from his bored slouch, "You want to stuff me into that monster?"

The kick he received for his words dropped him back into his chair faster than if he were hit with a bazooka.

"_Don't diss Unit 01!_" Asuka grated out, cursing her uniform skirt for preventing her from putting enough power into her strike, "I'm allowing you into _my _Unit's plug and that's the thanks I get?"

Both Misato and Akagi ignored the exchange, trading thoughtful gazes instead.

"Are you sure you can... convince, Unit 01, Asuka?" Akagi queried, biting her lip, as if unsure. The redhead stopped shouting at the downed boy and nodded brightly.

"Yes, he's been very accommodating as of late," she said with a cheerful grin, straightening her tie, "Besides, he owes me. Just give me five minutes or so."

"Ok," Misato decided, quickly typing a series of commands into her terminal's keyboard and looking all-around stressed, "Then Asuka's diving, with Suzuhara in Unit 01 on backup. Rei stays here as last line of defense. Unit 02 is already being outfitted with D-type suit, and we lift off within the hour. You have 30 minutes to change and get Unit 01 to cooperate, Asuka, so hurry it up, please."

"What she said," Akagi agreed, standing up with obvious intent to supervise the negotiations between the redhead and the ultimate weapon of mankind, "I'll wait in Cage 7 observation room."

The German teen nodded and also rose, exiting the room without pause and following the scientist towards the cage her Evangelion was currently located in.

* * *

"_Asuka, what's going on?"_ was the first thing Shinji asked as soon as the synchronization was established, the blue fireball burning restlessly, _"Magi're going nuts, I can't make heads or tails out of what they're talking about."_

"Hello to you too, Third Child," the girl grinned, settling into the command chair despite knowing that she'd be out of it within 10 minutes at most, "How've you been?"

The flame-flower just slumped a bit, as if in exasperation.

"_Asuka, please?"_

"Oh, you're no fun, Ikari," the girl laughed, readjusting her plug suit a bit. She was in a hurry when putting it on, so it was currently pinching her back something fierce. Finally finding a comfortable enough position to sit in, the redhead deigned to elaborate:

"We've found an Angel inside a volcano, so I need to dive into the magma to retrieve it."

"_Err, I'm not sure that's such a great idea," _the boy's mental voice mumbled, a bit uneasy, _"The Eva can't take that sort of heat, can it?"_

"Of course it can't, stupid," Asuka scoffed, "We've got some kind of new Evangelion-sized suit for that. Problem is, it's only fitted for Unit 02, so I'm piloting it for this operation."

The shout the girl was expecting didn't come, although the tongue of blue fire flared a bit.

"_I don't like it," _Shinji finally said after a second of silence, _"It's a bit too dangerous for you, Asuka. Unit 02's not sentient, so you're without someone to bail you out if something goes wrong."_

"Chill, Third," the redhead shrugged, trying to sound causal, then switched to a sugary sweet tone, "I'll manage. I do have a tiny favor to ask of you, though."

"_What favor?" _the boy carefully queried, a bit wary at her sudden attitude switch. Asuka exhaled a cloud of warm liquid. Here it comes, she thought.

"I need you to let Suzuhara pilot you."

"_WHAT?" _the bright flare of blue light illuminated every corner of the plug, bathing the capsule in its glow for five full seconds, _"Him?"_

"Yes, Ikari. And stop trying to fry my eyeballs, god damn it!"

"_B-but..."_

"Look, Ikari, I need you on site as my back up," the redhead started explaining, "and you can't move properly without a pilot, right?"

"_Well, yes, but..."_

"Shinji, I'm not liking it either," the girl sighted, "You think I _want _to let that moron into my entry plug? But I'd breathe much easier if you're on site, and have full motion range. Besides, if Suzuhara's the one diving into a volcano, he'll mess up and die pathetically for sure."

The handful of liquid fire perked up a bit, then made a circle in LCL in agitation. Ikari was obviously thinking.

"_Ok, fine," _the boy finally conceded, tone greatly displeased, _"It's a one-time only thing, so ok. I'll let him pilot. Thought I've got no idea how I'd be any help at all, when you're inside a damn volcano."_

Asuka relaxed marginally. It was nice to have someone so easy to bend to her will (the girl refused to use the word 'dependable' on principle, since she had no need to _depend_ on someone).

"Ok, great," she cheered, "You can't let him know you're inside here, either, though."

Getting a mildly irritated feeling of agreement from the purple cyborg, the girl threw a look at her plug suit's wrist monitor. Finding out she still had five minutes of synch time before getting loaded into Unit 02, the redhead stretched her legs into the air, then put them onto the control yokes before her.

"Well," she drawled, "We've still got some time left before the operation begins, so how you've been?"

"_Oh, just fine," _Ikari answered readily, holding the easy-going tone the conversation was taking, _"Not much to talk about, really. Burned down half of Casper's circuits trying to hack my father's passwords, so now the stupid Magi are pissed at me, but everything else's ok. You?"_

"Heh, nice going, Third Child," the German teen snickered, enjoying the calm before the upcoming engagement, "Ever heard of discretion? Well, anyways, I got grounded for failing at school, so I can't go to Okinawa with the rest of the class now, Hikari's still ignoring me, the silly sow, and I got promoted."

"_That kinda sucks," _Ikari's voice sounded truly curious. The disembodied teen greatly enjoyed her talk about mundane stuff like school work and day-to-day life, Asuka had noted long ago, _"Wait, what? Promoted? Congratulations!"_

"Thank you kindly," the redhead grinned, exulting in her innate awesomeness, "I'm Eva Squad Leader now. Or 2-nd Lieutenant. Pick whatever sounds cooler."

"_Oh," _the blue flame dimmed suddenly, causing the girl to raise an eyebrow and scowl mildly. That wasn't the reaction she was expecting.

"What's with the attitude change, Third?" she snapped, putting her feet down and leaning forwards aggressively, "Aren't you happy for me?"

"_S-sorry… M-mm," _Shinji mumbled quietly, then rallied, _"It's just… I kinda caught a report a few days ago, but figured it wasn't about you. Now, I'm not so sure."_

"What report? What're you on about, Ikari?" the redhead inquired, leaning forwards even more and not liking where this was going even one bit, "You better not be making stuff up here…"

"_No! Why would I do that?" _Shinji's avatar jumped a bit at the accusation, _"It was full of talk about getting someone into the proper chain of command so that this someone could be disciplined properly if something happened, and the best way it could be done was to promote this guy to some made-up military rank. I figured it was about some whack technician or something, but now that you mention it…"_

Asuka winched her jaw back to its proper place after a full minute of shocked silence, feeling a fierce blush coming up. She'd been had. And here she was, prancing about in her uniform, while the Commander was probably cackling in his stupid office about how foolish she looked…

"Third Child," the girl drawled out, tone oozing danger, "I think your father, as well as Misato, need another shower from the fire extinguishers. Make it a cold shower."

* * *

"Fuck me…" was the first thing Suzuhara uttered, barely containing his laughter as Asuka made her appearance inside Unit 02's cage, blown up like a water balloon inside her freshly modified plug suit. The girl tugged at the black fabric in disgust. Of course, since Suzuhara was the one who was supposed to be diving into the magma (why had she gotten Misato to give her position inside Unit 02, again? Was she, like, stupid or something?), it was _his _plug suit that had been modified. And, of course, there hadn't been enough time to alter her own red suit too, so now she was stuck inside the ugly black abomination that made her look much too pale for her liking.

Still, the girl figured, at least there wasn't any discomfort in the chest area. In exchange for that, she currently resembled a beach ball with legs. Life sucked. Having reached this life-altering revelation, the girl dared look at her steed for this operation. Life suddenly sucked even more.

Evangelion Unit 02 was clad into a drab white gigantic suit not unlike diving suits of early nineteen forties, and currently reminding everyone in the cage of a giant marshmallow. It looked like it was pouting, too, but Asuka figured it was just her perception playing tricks, used to assigning emotions to her own Unit 01 as it was.

"Looking good, Sohryu!" Suzuhara gloated, approaching, obviously sure that the scowling redhead currently couldn't hit him, engulfed by her plug suit as she was, "Really brings out your chocolate side."

"Drop down and die, punk," Asuka growled, attempting to shake her fist at the male teen, "What the hell are you doing here, anyways? You're supposed to get ready inside Unit 01."

"Yeah-yeah," Toji waved off her comment as if it were a fly, "Thought I'd thank ya for taking my place and all."

"You know what, prick? Die," Asuka spat out coldly, cursing her misfortune. Here she was, looking completely ridiculous, and the little ass had the gall to mock her? That wouldn't do at all, "I'll get you back later."

"Sure you will," the Fourth Child smiled brightly, prancing away towards the purple Eva's cage. The redhead resisted a parting shot, knowing it wouldn't do any good right now. Besides, she spied someone else approaching and attempted to hide somewhere in mortification. It was not to be, thought.

"Ah, Asuka, good to see you," Kaji's voice pronounced as the ponytailed man came to a stop at Asuka's right, causing the girl's expression to morph into an involuntary smirk, thought she could _feel _herself burning red in embarrassment. Standing in the stupid plug suit in front of the guy she had a huge crush on was not something she had planned to do today.

"Oh, look who finally crawled out of wherever he has been all this time," the redhead attempted to sound displeased, turning her nose with a mild huff and trying to cross her arms over the bulging, air-filled contact suit but failing spectacularly. The feeling of mortification intensified.

The man actually had the gall to look wounded.

"But Asuka," he exclaimed, managing a believable attempt at sincerity, "you can't honestly say you're still angry about what happened on 'Over the Rainbow'! I had direct orders, you know."

"Yes, and you probably also had orders to ignore me for what, a month now?" the girl snapped, mercilessly ignoring that cute smirk of his that he was currently favoring her with.

"I'm terribly sorry, Schatz," the unshaven man immediately returned, looking truly sorry, "But I was swamped with work. It's not easy, being an UN inspector here, you know. To make up for my inexcusable behavior, how about I take you to dinner?"

Asuka resisted the urge to dance. She'd probably trip and fall down right now, anyways. Still, she had to count her blessings: if the conversation was taking place inside Unit 01's cage, Shinji'd probably start getting all jealous again.

"Well, since you're sincerely asking for my forgiveness," she drawled, trying to sound coy, and cursing her inability to take possession of Kaji's arm, "I'll think about it during our date. Tomorrow evening?"

"Oh, thank you," the unshaven man made a show of wiping perspiration off his brow, "I thought you'd make me sweat much longer. Pick you up around seven then?"

"Ok," the young German smiled brightly, then frowned a bit at the glare Misato was sending them from the other side of the hangar, "I think I'd better go now, thought. Humanity to save and all that. You know how it is."

"Ok then, can't hold up our savior," The man grinned rakishly, tussling her barely-present hair. Asuka tried hard not to purr.

"If you're quite done," a hissing voice sounded from behind them, quickly revealing the Nerv Ops Director, red in the face with absolute fury, who had covered the distance separating them and appeared at their backs like a professional ninja, "We have an Angel to capture."

"Fine, fine, I'm going already," the girl grumbled, then cursed savagely under her breath. Why the hell was everyone interrupting her time with Kaji? Still, now that the UN inspector's attention was firmly captured by the purple-haired woman (and the German teen knew from experience that said attention couldn't be dragged away from Misato with an Evangelion), the girl stormed off towards the umbilical bridge, huffing angrily at Unit 02's suit-clad head, then gingerly climbed into the entry plug, trying really hard not to trip in her disgustingly fat plug suit.

"Beginning synch," Maya's voice sounded as soon as the plug was lowered into the Eva's back, "5 till absolute borderline."

Asuka concentrated almost absently at the chaotic colors swirling in the LCL around her, scowl firmly in place, until the disconcerting vertigo of suddenly becoming 70-meters tall and made of metal subsided, then marched the much less obedient cyborg gingerly to the transportation platform and secured it, trying to identify the strange, if very faint, sensations she was currently receiving from the red giant. Now, since her work for the next few hours was done, all she had to do was to wait for the platform to rise to the surface and be picked up by the Eva transporter. God, she hated how boring it was without Ikari.

* * *

"570 meters, continuing descent," Hyuga's voice sounded over the comm. link, causing the redhead to sigh and wiggle in the command chair, suppressing a grimace at the feeling of sweat pouring down her back. The inflated plug suit wasn't helping even a bit against the stifling heat, but at least _this _heat was different from the incinerating blaze of Ramiel's death ray, so Asuka wasn't too uncomfortable, all things considering.

Almost ten minutes had already passed since the beginning of her dive into an active volcano, but the D-type equipment had, indeed, held up to the immense pressure and temperature of molten rock, despite the redhead's doubts, so Asuka felt a faint hope that maybe the operation would actually go as planned this time, without any nasty surprises. She was bound to luck out some time, wasn't she?

"Passing 600 meters. How are you feeling, Asuka?" Akagi's voice interrupted her musings, causing the girl to wipe the sweat off her brow and gaze on the moderately-sized window showing Misato and the good doctor, both smoking and looking stressed.

"Fine so far," the german pilot sighed a bit tiredly, gripping the control yokes tighter, "I'm sweating like a pig, but nothing unexpected."

"Hey, Sohryu, is it always so cold in here or is it just me?" Suzuhara's worried tone broke in, followed by his own communications window to her right, causing the girl to grin in amusement, throwing the current bane of her existence a smug look.

Suzuhara's first synch with Unit 01 was quite funny, as far as she was concerned, seeing that the boy had stepped into the purple Eva's plug with a crude self-drawn o-fuda held in front of him, only to have it glow blue and dissolve quickly in front of his scared face as soon as the capsule was flooded. Shinji was obviously having fun.

"It's just you, Fourth," Asuka answered finally, studying the shivering form of her colleague, "Your synch ratio's too low, that's all."

"It's never this cold in Unit 02," Toji disagreed, looking around surreptitiously, "And I get the feeling like I'm being watched, too."

"Oh, you are," the redhead smiled brightly, "Unit 01's probably waiting for the best moment before eating you."

"Don't joke like that, bitch!" Suzuhara yelped, quickly turning around to check if someone was behind him, yet finding only LCL.

"Shut up, both of you," Misato finally snapped, glaring hard, "We're not in an amusement park, damn it!"

"What crawled up her ass?" Toji asked rhetorically, after flipping a switch on Unit 01's control yoke with an unsure expression. Asuka's grin widened.

"Fourth, there isn't a switch for closing comm. links in Unit 01," she relished in informing the suddenly cringing boy, who was currently on the receiving end of Misato's withering look, while Akagi snickered in the background, "The whole comm. array's on mental control."

"Now you tell me," Toji groaned, before his communications window went empty. Asuka just grinned, returning her attention back to the magma around her.

"Passing 1000 meters. Temperature rising inside right arm, we're accelerating coolant circulation."

After another tense five minutes, the redheaded pilot slowly bent the Eva's head to look below her, already expecting to see her target, but finding nothing so far.

"Hey, I'm not seeing the Angel," she commented, causing Misato to scowl even deeper, "And I'm at 1178 already."

"Continue descent and recalculate the target's estimated depth. Factor in the lava movement, this time," the major finally decided, after a few seconds, causing the scientist near her to stare at her in disbelief.

"I respectfully disagree, Katsuragi," Ritsuko snapped after glaring at her long-time friend, "The D-type equipment isn't meant to be utilized at such depth!"

"We can't let this chance slip by us, Doctor," the major returned coldly, crushing her cigarette under her foot, "We have to take risks."

Akagi huffed, then leaned to one of the operators to whisper something, while Asuka just sighed in disgust. As if Misato was the one inside a tunnel of magma, she thought. Her guardian's face softened, obviously after having seen the girl's disgruntled expression.

"Asuka, how about a trip to the hot springs after we're done here?" the major queried after a minute of silence, trying to sound placating, "There's a nice resort near here, so we can relax a bit when we're done."

"_Oh yes, Misato, what a great idea,"_ the young pilot thought savagely, hearing the white suit around her Eva groan from the pressure, as well as the sound of something snapping, _"A trip to the hot springs makes everything alright, doesn't it?"_

"Unit 02 lost it's prog knife," Hyuga confirmed her suspicion.

Outwardly, thought, the girl just smiled at the suggestion.

"As long as there's good food, I'm ok with that," she commented, making sure her voice sounded enthusiastic, causing her guardian to smile a bit.

"1400 meters," Hyuga interrupted, typing a long string of commands into his terminal, "Approaching the target's recalculated depth."

"I see it," the redhead confirmed after a second of gazing into the boiling matter around her, "Looks like an egg, or something."

"Nice, now capture it," Misato ordered, leaning forwards in anticipation. Asuka nodded firmly, then extended the Eva's hands, which held the long rod of the magnetic cage. After a tense moment of fighting against the lava's movement, she positioned the cage properly, engaging it with another thought and causing the space around the white embryo before her to become surrounded with a faint blue glow.

"Ok, target captured and still dormant," the redhead confirmed, leaning back in her command chair with a satisfied sigh, "you can pull me up now."

"Nicely done, Asuka," Misato grinned and pulled out another nicotine stick while the Eva reversed its direction smoothly, slowly starting to rise to the surface, "I owe you a dinner."

"Only if you're not the one cooking it," Asuka joked back, causing the Operations Director to send her a fake scowl.

"Activity detected!" Hyuga's voice all but shouted, causing the girl's attention to snap back to the white mass of the Angel in front of her with a curse. _Of course_ it wouldn't go according to plan.

Sandalphon's egg was quickly changing shape, the form of the strange, human-like embryo within it growing rapidly and losing its resemblance to a fetus within seconds and now reminding the young pilot of a cross between a worm and a lizard. Asuka cursed once more, quickly going over her options.

"Jettison the cage!" Akagi's voice snapped, and the teen obeyed quickly, sending the mental signal that caused the small charges in the fixtures at the Eva's hands to blow, releasing the prey that suddenly was becoming the hunter, while the cables on top of the volcano strained to pull Unit 02 up even faster.

The Angel obviously had other ideas, finally breaking free of its quickly decaying egg and swinging its tail with an ease that was frightening, completely ignoring the countless metric tons of molten rock pressing on it from all sides. Asuka's hand snapped to her shoulder out of sheer reflex, hoping to grab her prog knife yet finding nothing. Ah, yes, she had lost it, hadn't she? Damn it all to hell!

Quickly jerking her left control rod to the side and initiating an evasive maneuver, the redhead flipped a switch with her other hand, then swung the Eva into a spin, causing the heavy ballast to be blown off from its place at her back in mid-spin, only to impact with the approaching Angel's head with great force. Ignoring the warning shouts from the observation room above her, the girl kicked with her legs, giving her a small boost to the ascend speed, then stared into the blazing rock around her, hoping to see the Angel's next approach.

"Asuka, Suzuhara's prog knife's incoming!" Misato's voice snapped out, the woman not daring to open a com window, lest Asuka be distracted, for which the redhead was very grateful.

Spying the quickly approaching object above her just in time, the pilot made a mad grab for it, clenching the weapon in satisfaction, then changed her grip so that she was holding the handle and not the blade with Unit 02's clumsy, suit-clad hands. Asuka engaged the huge blade, ignoring the greatly diminished roar of the weapon's vibration, and stared once again into the magma, seeking her enemy.

Sandalphon proved to be accommodating, appearing slightly to her right and cutting through the lava with impressive speed, tail and strange arm-like protrusions swinging about with intent. The girl met the Angel's charge with a swing of her blade, cursing the slowness of her movements and praying reverently that the Eva rise faster, only to watch in horror as the progressive blade slid off the Angel's side without leaving so much as a scratch, while the alien's leech-like maw sucked itself onto the D-type suit's head in an attempt to break through the reinforced glass of its visor.

"It's not working!" Asuka cried, delivering another strike with the useless knife, only to be ignored once more. The Angel's 'arms' grabbed at the Eva's suit-clad head, crumpling the white metallic material like it was tissue paper, getting a proper grip, then started squeezing as if intending to rip the protective gear apart to get at the red Evangelion.

"The Angel's densely-armored to survive inside such conditions," Akagi's detached yet greatly stressed voice sounded over the comm., "the progressive knife won't cut it!"

"Thanks for the great help!" Asuka snapped, grappling with Sandalphon and finally succeeding in separating it's left paw from her Eva's head, "Now how about something more constructive, you bitch?"

Nothing constructive came, the command center degenerating into panic like headless chickens, causing the redhead to let out a howl of rage and smash a fist into the Angel's side in hopes of dislodging it from its position; yet to do that, Asuka had to let go of its left paw, which immediately returned to trying to rip through the protective suit. At least, the white metal still held, despite the damage.

Delivering another series of painfully slow strikes with the prog knife while cursing all the while, the young pilot then tried to wedge the blade between the Eva's head and the Angel's maw, only to discover that Sandalphon's grip on her head intensified greatly: obviously the extraterrestrial wasn't letting go of its victim.

"Asuka, we're rerouting the coolant to tube three, rip it out and try to douse the Angel with it!" Misato's desperate voice sounded over the still-open channel, and the pilot readily executed the order, quickly catching on to the plan. The huge white-clad hand of her Eva rose, slashing the pipe in question with a quick stroke of the knife, then grabbing it and stuffing it into Sandalphon's side as hard as the girl could. The Angel howled in fury in response, its roar discernible even within the magma surrounding them, then quickly let go of her head, attempting to retreat and regenerate with a swing of its whale-like tail; but Asuka didn't let it do as it pleased, quickly letting go of the coolant pipe and jabbing her knife into the core visible within the alien's mouth. The strike came through, the progressive edge digging into the cooled red sphere with amazing ease, causing Sandalphon to jerk in a spasm of pain, swinging its arms widely.

"Take that, bastard!" Asuka howled in victory, greatly enjoying the sight of her enemy's agony, then quickly jerked the Eva to the side as the monster righted itself, the knife still sticking out of the red crystal in its mouth, and went into counteroffensive.

The evasive maneuver saved Unit 02's much abused head, but not its right arm, onto which the angel clamped down with both of its 'hands', crushing the protective suit once more and causing the girl to hiss in pain: the magma broke through the D-type equipment and was currently melting the Eva's forearm.

Swinging her other hand in an attempt to hit the knife and ram it deeper into Sandalphon's core with a shout of fury, the german teen missed, her fist impacting into the Angel's head, still damaged by the coolant, crushing the suddenly-brittle tissue and digging deep into the creature's flesh. In response, Sandalphon let go of her arm, then with a sudden burst of speed jumped towards her head, causing the girl to put up her already-damaged hand in defense.

The impact into the melting arm forced the girl to cry out in pain, swinging the mutilated appendage around and throwing the angel away for a dozen meters, yet this small victory was very costly: the angel's last swing shredded another coolant pipe, leaving Asuka attached to the surface by only the half-ripped power cable and the metal line, which, in turn, was already straining from all her movements.

"Eat this!" the redhead growled, ignoring the switch of the operating mode to batteries and taking the chance that had presented itself. Unleashing another punch with her healthy hand and finally ramming her fist into the prog knife, Asuka watched in satisfaction as her enemy's core shattered under the strike's power. Without further ado, Sandalphon's form began to disintegrate quickly, starting with its tail, but the Angel apparently wasn't going to die so easily, and made another, last attack, slashing not at Asuka, who had jerked her Eva into another spin to avoid the hit, but at the cable fixture, ripping the metal line as if it wasn't even there, then finally stopped moving altogether and dissolved into white flakes within the magma.

Panting with effort, arm hurting like crazy from the 78%-synch and feeling hollow, Asuka just stared at the only thing still dragging her Eva to the surface – the damaged power cable. The rip within it was slowly widening.

Silence reigned, no-one of those watching daring to even breath as the reinforced energy line loosened further.

"How deep am I?" the redhead asked, voice hollow, not daring to look away from the last thing holding her above a sure death, lest it get ripped faster.

"600 meters," Hyuga whispered, also not daring to look away.

The cable was continuing to deteriorate.

"Jettison everything you can, Asuka," Misato ordered, voice desperate, causing everyone in the command center to leap back to action, "Reduce the weight at all cost! Get rid of the legs!"

Akagi threw herself towards the terminal, obviously intent on cutting off the Eva's feet, but it appeared to be a little too late: with the last tired groan, the power cable finally snapped, leaving Unit 02 to rise a few meters from the inertia, then start to sink slowly.

"Shinji!" Asuka yelped in panic out of sheer reflex, watching the glass of her D-suit visor start cracking, lacking the coolant to keep it cooled, then remembered that Unit 01 wasn't even near her, and clamped down onto the sudden urge to cry. She didn't want to die like that. She didn't!

Her hope of salvation came in the form of Suzuhara's panicked voice.

"Hey! Stop that!" the boy cried, obviously distressed, _"What are you doing?"_

"Unit 01 lost synch!" someone in the observation room shouted, causing a small panic, "It's going berserk!"

"The connections 173 to 796 are going dead! The neural commands are flowing backwards!"

"It's leaping!"

The sudden commotion inside the command center didn't interest Asuka, however, since the girl was currently staring at the still retreating sky outline hopefully. There was a dark humanoid form quickly approaching from above.

* * *

"I am going to clean and polish Unit 01 till it shines with these very hands," Misato said with conviction for the third time this hour, leaning back within the warm water of the hot spring, causing Asuka, who was currently relaxing on a convenient boulder, to replicate a grin once more.

The post-operation fallout was strangely minor, all things considering, consisting only of the almost destroyed left arm of Unit 02, as well as the completely obliterated armor of Unit 01, as well as the moderate damage the D-type suit suffered. Not that the German pilot cared at the moment, since after Unit 01, with a freaking out Suzuhara still within, dragged the D-type armored red Eva out of the volcano and finally shut down, (blithely ignoring the fact that it's battery had run out almost two minutes ago), and the children had been retrieved, Misato made good of her promise, leaving Akagi and the rest of Nerv personnel to sort out the mess and transport the damaged and partially molten Evangelions back to Tokyo-3, and dragged both her and Suzuhara to the hot springs resort at the mountain's base.

Readjusting her towel, the girl yawned lazily; keeping her face relaxed so that Misato didn't see her inner turmoil, and continued brooding despite the victory grabbed from the jaws of defeat today.

She had called for help. _She, _Asuka Langley Sohryu, had asked someone to help her for the first time in her life. There was no denying this fact, which had been her first impulse, since almost everyone in the observation room had heard her. The redhead could only accept it, now, and try to figure out what had compelled her to actually ask to be saved, like some demented damsel in distress. The sheer self-disgust the proud teenager was currently experiencing was mind-boggling.

And she was _relieved _when Unit 01's purple form, the armor melting away and swimming in the lava around it, grabbed her red Eva by the neck and dragged it to the surface. Relieved! She was even _smiling in gratitude!_ The fact that it was her life that was at stake when she had cried her wingman's name shouldn't have mattered. It disgusted her that she had been so absolutely helpless today, had to rely on another to bail her out. That she had admitted her helplessness. She shouldn't have had to rely on anyone! She shouldn't have gotten herself into such a situation, damn it all.

She shouldn't have asked.

And now, as a result of her weak-willed action, the debt she owed Ikari became one-third larger. Three times now, she had escaped death only thanks to her already dead partner, and she had no way to repay him, which was a point even more vexing then the fact that she had needed a rescue in the first place. Was she so weak that she constantly needed to be saved by a guy who had already paid the ultimate price? To...to _exploit_ the poor bastard who was already dead? Was she really so useless? Was she even _needed_ anymore or could her Unit fight Angels without her just as well?

Suppressing a scowl from appearing on her face and readjusting her position instead, Asuka closed her eyes tiredly and tried to come up with a reasonable justification for her behavior. Why the hell had she called him? Because he had saved her before? Or because she had become dependent on him? God, this was frustrating.

Suppressing another scowl, the redhead finally gave up on the topic, not coming up with any new insights, and slid into the hot water instead, trying to distract herself by bugging her guardian.

"Misato, what's with the scar?" she asked, studying the ugly mark on the older woman's abdomen curiously. The major shrugged absently, eyes closed and face completely relaxed.

"A souvenir from Second Impact," she answered, shrugging mildly, "I was the only survivor at ground zero when it happened, since my dad managed to get me to the last rescue capsule. I was your age back then."

"Ah," was all Asuka could say, studying the mark more carefully, "That why you hate the Angels so much, then?"

Misato finally sat up straight, rubbing her shoulder to get the kinks out, obviously thinking about an answer.

"Yeah, probably," she finally admitted, then threw her charge a strange, almost apologetic, look, "I'm sorry about today, by the way."

"What do you mean?" the pilot inquired, standing from her spot in the hot water and striding closer to the purple-haired woman. Misato sat down onto the rocky edge of the pool, gazing out into the valley.

"I was pushing too hard," she sighed, "Taking unnecessary risks. I had the wrong motives for my actions."

"That's not really an explanation, Misato," Asuka scowled, also sitting down onto the warm rocks and gazing into the sunset, "If you're apologizing for something, make it a bit more clear, please."

"I wanted revenge," Misato shrugged easily, without having to think about it, "For my father, for Ikari-kun, for all the people that died during Second Impact… I just thought, finally we're no longer on the defensive; we're striking back, attacking ourselves… And blundered into this trap like a green rookie. Almost got you killed, too."

"Misato, you're ridiculous," the redhead huffed, wrapping her towel closer around herself, "Yes, you were a bit out of line, today, but we all have bad days. Stop beating yourself up over it, already. I don't need a tactical director who second-guesses herself."

"You're not very good at comforting people, are you?" Misato snickered after a short pause, causing Asuka to grin as well.

"You're the 'adult'," the teen snapped, standing up again and jumping down into the water, "You don't need comforting, you need a kick in the ass."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Katsuragi agreed after another pause, then also returned into the warm spring, striding towards the basket with their washing supplies, then stopped suddenly in front of the bamboo fence separating the male and female sections of the hot spring. To be more correct, in front of the hole inside said fence, which had an eye within it.

"Suzuhara, are you spying on us?"


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's Notes: I'm on TV Tropes. Wow. Just Wow. Thanks again for your reviews, they're much appreciated. Also, please extent your thanks to my beta, BlueGlass 54, for turning a random collection of symbols into a proper chapter._

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies.

Chapter 8

"Well, Third Child, I guess I better thank you for saving me… No, not right," Asuka muttered, turning away from the mirror and pacing the room in measured strides, then tried again.

"I, Asuka Langley Sohryu, officially thank you, Ikari Shinji, for… Gott, what's _wrong_ with me?"

Throwing her hands up in disgust, the girl studied her reflection critically for a second, then resumed her pacing.

"Damn it, I just have to thank him. I've done it before, I can do it again. No problem," she ranted at herself, kicking at a discarded wrapper absently, "Ok, here goes… Third, I'm going to thank you for bailing me out, but if you breathe a word of this to _anyone… _God damn it! He _can't_ breathe!"

Giving up, the redhead threw herself at her bed, thanking whatever deities were listening that Ayanami was currently at the mysterious medical checkup Akagi had insisted on.

The blonde had a surprisingly good memory for grudges, Asuka had to admit, so after several rather invasive tests yesterday evening after the pilots returned from the hot springs, the German teen choose to avoid the good doctor until the older woman forgot the redhead had called her a bitch in the heat of the moment.

Still, these thoughts helped little with her current conundrum.

As it had been only a day after the little Sandalphon disaster inside the volcano and with Unit 01 still in repairs, the young woman hadn't had the chance to talk to her bodiless partner yet, for which she was very thankful, considering that she still hadn't figured out how to properly show her gratitude.

The problem was Asuka wasn't feeling said gratitude. Instead, she felt insulted, diminished and useless. And it didn't make sense to feel that way. Ikari wasn't trying to insult and diminish her, or show her how useless she was without him, when he friggen _jumped into the hot magma_ without so much as a 'by your leave'. After all, she had called for him, so, logically she was the one at fault for her current predicament.

Why the hell had he even jumped in after her, anyways? He was so anxious about the Eva not being able to survive inside the molten rock before!

Ok, another try.

"Ikari, I'm really grateful… Gah!"

Resisting the urge to bash her head into the mirror, Asuka settled for punching the wall instead. What the hell was her malfunction if she couldn't even do so much as say 'thank you for saving my life' properly? Was she really so pathetic?

Rubbing her aching knuckles, the girl just sighed in disgust and stomped into the kitchen, intent on making herself a nice soothing cup of tea. Maybe she'd be able to think better once she was a bit calmer, she figured.

Pouring the hot water into the small tea-kettle, the girl scratched her head absently, where a good two centimeters of hair currently resided in a rather militaristic cut, then poured herself a cup, plumping onto the kitchen chair and frowning morosely into the hot liquid.

Why did Shinji keep saving her? Was that because of his silly little crush on her? Or was it something else? Why was she even dwelling on the whole thing? She would've ignored the whole ordeal completely if it had been, say, Suzuhara, or Rei, who had bailed her ass out. Well, ok, maybe not completely, but she wouldn't be practicing saying 'thank you' in front of a fucking mirror, either!

Chasing away the disconcerting thoughts with an angry gulp of her tea and suppressing a scowl, the girl threw a look at the microwave clock in an attempt to distract herself. The numbers showed three minutes before six in the evening.

Suppressing a curse at the thought of loosing track of the time, the girl abandoned her half-full tea cup and rushed to the bathroom for a quick shower. There was only an hour left before Kaji would be picking her up for their date.

* * *

"Well, not a bad choice of restaurant," the redheaded teen commented, sitting down into the chivalrously proffered chair, wig firmly in place and a large smile on her lips. The unshaven man sent her a smile in return while taking his own seat.

The three-star restaurant they were currently in specialized in western cuisine, for which the girl was very grateful, having missed quite a few of her favorite dishes during her time in Japan, but her main course was, of course, the love of her young life in front of her.

Said love of her life had just ordered her a juice instead of wine, but that was fine, of course. She'd just have to display her female assets a bit more obviously, that's all.

Crossing her legs and readjusting a shoulder strap of a nice black dress she had been saving up just for an occasion like this, the young pilot smiled coyly at her date, only to see him engrossed into the menu. Damn him, he wasn't making seducing him easy. Opening her own dish list and quickly finding out that the restaurant did, indeed, serve jaeger schnitzel, the girl ordered it, along with a chef salad, rejecting the idea of a follow up in form of a goulash soup after some thought. No need to stuff herself after all, that wasn't the evening's purpose.

"So, I hear it was a difficult day yesterday," Kaji commented once the waiter had departed with their orders, arching an eyebrow. Asuka shrugged mildly, suppressing the unwelcome thoughts that had been plaguing her since this morning.

"Yeah, nothing too difficult though," she answered airily, "A small problem on getting out of the volcano, and another with the Angel suddenly going active in the middle of the operation, but everything came out fine in the end. How was your day?"

"Asuka, don't drop stuff like that into a conversation in such a lighthearted tone," Kaji smirked at her teasing, "Now I'm going to be even more worried about you."

"So you _were _thinking about me, then," the girl smiled sweetly, fishing for a yes. Kaji just smirked enigmatically, seeing through her easily, but obliged.

"Of course I do, Schatz," he answered, tone honest, "You _are _fighting bloodthirsty aliens as tall as a building."

"Yes, yes, I do," the German teen smiled again after another sip, then leaned back so the waiter could put their food down.

Kaji waited until the garcon departed again, then returned to the conversation.

"So, why don't you tell me about yesterday in more detail, then?" he queried, smirking his sexy smirk again, "It'll put my worry to rest for a while, at least."

"Well, fine, if you want to talk about work…" Asuka drawled in disappointment, although she wasn't really upset, "It was nothing special really. I was lowered into the crater in Unit 02, while Unit 01 and Suzuhara were standing by on the surface. The Angel woke up as soon as I got it into the magnetic cage, so I had to kill it afterwards."

"I heard there was some kind of incident with pulling you out again," Kaji interrupted, tone curious. Asuka contemplated fishing for pity, but rejected the idea as quickly as it came. She had standards, damn it!

"Well, yes, the cables were damaged," she shrugged lightly, "so Unit 01 had to dive and pull me up."

"While going berserk," Kaji commented thoughtfully, causing the girl to frown.

"Hey, if you already know everything, why ask in the first place?" she pouted cutely, taking a bite of her schnitzel. The man shrugged, smiling softly.

"Just wanted to hear it from the most important perspective," he explained easily, immediately erasing her frown and replacing it with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Well, yes, it went berserk, since Suzuhara wouldn't have managed to get me out on his own," the pilot finally elaborated, taking another bite of her food and a sip of her juice, "The little boy's so incapable of _anything. _He broke down crying like some demented soap-opera actress when Misato kicked him around for peeking yesterday. Not at all like you, Kaji."

Asuka almost purred the last word in a tone she had practiced for almost half a year in Germany when she was twelve, causing the man to perk an eyebrow.

"Hmm, I see," he finally said, indulging her with another smile, "I'm just glad you're alright, that's all."

"Well of course," the girl scoffed, tossing her fake hair over her shoulder, "What did you expect?"

"Ah, many apologies, didn't mean to insult you," Kaji immediately backpedaled, though he was grinning at her show of ire, causing the girl to smile as well, despite herself.

"So is it true," the man finally asked after a small but comfortable silence, "Is your Unit 01 really sentient then?"

Asuka favored him with a 'well duh' look.

"You did see it moving in its cage, didn't you?" she queried, in mild disbelief. It was justified too, since everyone at Nerv had seen the Evangelion move around at one point or another. It was an attraction for the employees for quite a long while, until someone had thrown a wrapper at the huge purple behemoth in jest a month ago. Shinji complained to Asuka. Asuka chastised the thrower in question in a voice heard all over the sub-level his office was located on for a good half an hour and ever since then no-one dared come into the cage just to gawk at Unit 01 lest it would spark her ire. Lt. Tanaka, as well as everyone else from her Eva's tech crew, was deeply amused by the whole ordeal.

"Well, yes, of course I have," Kaji admitted, looking sheepish, "But the rumor has it that it's haunted by the ghost of the last pilot, so I thought I'd inquire from the source, so to speak."

"Let's change the topic, Kaji," Asuka asked, suddenly a bit uncomfortable. The whole conversation was going into a direction she didn't like very much at the moment.

"But why?" the man asked, suddenly looking serious, "I'm just curious, is all."

"You've been asking me about Unit 01 all evening, Kaji. Let's talk about something else," the redhead firmly stated, although losing her smile. The unshaven man quickly put on an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, Schatz. Would you like some wine to make up for it?"

"Ok," the girl drawled out slowly. Kaji never let her have anything stronger then beer, and even then only half a bottle at most. Something wasn't right. Maybe he was going to take advantage of her inebriated state? _Yeah, right, dream on, Asuka_, her inner bitch murmured nastily.

Taking a sip of the red liquid the man had poured her (a full glass, too!) and studying her companion with disguised suspicion, yet finding nothing wrong, Asuka put down her fork and leaned forwards a bit, pieces starting to come together. Kaji wasn't Nerv, he was the UN inspector, wasn't he?

"Why are you so curious about Unit 01, anyways? It's not exactly something one would discuss during dinner," she asked, deciding to go for broke. Kaji shrugged, though there was a flash of… something on his face, some kind of unease Asuka almost missed, it was gone so quickly.

"Like I said, I'm just curious," he explained, "It is, after all, an unusual occurrence when a huge robot suddenly starts to act on its own, yes? Anyways, you're right, let's really talk about something else. How's school?"

"No, I decided that we are _not _changing the topic now, Kaji," the redhead smiled sweetly, making the man cock an eyebrow in surprise, "After all, it's not every day your own former guardian takes you out to dinner only to pump you for information, is it?"

"Ah, that's not really the reason…"

"Isn't it?" Asuka made her smile even more sweet, despite her vision tunneling from the sharp feeling of utter betrayal, "You're even giving me wine only so I get a bit more talkative, aren't you?"

The man wasn't smiling anymore. In fact, he was looking outright miserable.

"I forgot you're a genius for a reason, Asuka," he sighed heavily, putting down his utensils.

"I can't believe you, Kaji! You know exactly how I feel about you!" the redhead snapped, thinking over a possibility of stabbing the man she loved with a fork, "I trusted you!"

"Now, Asuka, calm down, it has nothing to do with that," Kaji placated, sensing the danger, but the German teen wasn't about to be dismissed like that.

"You are _using _me to get some insider info, damn it! It has everything to with that! Didn't you care for me at all? Am I just a source for you now?"

"Asuka, you're making a scene," the man grimaced slightly, calmly folding his hands, "Now calm down, lower your voice and we'll talk like reasonable people here."

"Reasonable?" the girl hissed lowly, heeding him and trying to speak quieter, "I didn't bash your head in yet! That's more than reasonable. I mean, you could've just bloody _asked, _Kaji! I would've told you! What the hell's up with this whole setup?"

"You would've been brought up on treason charges if you'd just tell me," Kaji sighed, then sipped his wine calmly, "The Commander has you watched 24/7. You blurting secret info out because I got you drunk and 'used' you, as you put it, would've earned you a slap on the wrist, if at all."

"What? You… you bastard!" Asuka snapped, fork bending in her hand, "So you're saying you used my feelings for you to _protect me? _How_ dare _you!"

"Whether you want to or not, Asuka, you're considered a viable asset to a lot of people," Kaji shrugged apologetically, sending her enraged face a sad smile, "Welcome to the adult world."

"That's all you have to say for yourself?" the girl growled, putting the abused fork down lest she give into temptation and mutilate the man in front of her, "I'm a _viable asset _to you? That's all?"

"Of course you're not only an asset, Asuka," Kaji muttered in exasperation, "But you're _primarily _an asset. If I would've recruited you, it would've been a big feather in my cap. I didn't, thought I had plenty of opportunity, because I would've had to 'burn' you sooner or later in the end and you'd have ended up dead or worse. I'm _trying_ to protect you."

"I am one of the three people that stand between humanity and total annihilation," the girl snapped, struggling to _think_ through her rage, "What the hell are you saying?"

"Asuka, your only worth is your ability to pilot Unit 01," the man elaborated quietly, still mildly exasperated, "As far as the UN is concerned, if Nerv decides one of the Children has to be _removed_, Marduk will find another as a replacement. Your recent promotion is just binding you closer to Nerv and gives Commander Ikari the ability to have you locked away as a security risk if your loyalty is called into question. You're a veteran now, yes, but quantity has a quality of its own, so as far as the UN sees it, your only value to Nerv is the fact that Unit 01 obeys you. And now that you've somehow managed to get it to work for Suzuhara, you've put yourself in a very precarious position. Yet you still have a lot of information on Nerv as well as on Eva operation, which makes you very important to a lot of agencies within the United Nations. Since you're now a lot less important for the survival of mankind in the eyes of these agencies, I've been ordered to get that information from you, and I was trying to get it in a way that didn't result in you being locked away for life, or found dead in some back ally, with Section 2 conspicuously absent. That's as plainly as I can put it."

The silence that followed the man's lengthy explanation stretched for almost five full minutes.

"You know what," the teen finally inquired in a steady, if quiet, voice, after mulling the new data over, "Fuck you, Kaji. I'm not going to play your stupid games. You're going to take me home now, and then you can go and fucking die, for all I care. If I so much as see you near me, I'm crying rape and calling security. We'll see how expendable_ you_ are, then."

* * *

After closing the door behind her, Asuka just stood there for a few seconds, not sure what to do, then went to the kitchen and stared stupidly at the half-full cup of tea she had left behind before the failed outing, then picked it up. Turning off the lights in the living room and settling onto the couch, mug in hand, the girl stared into the dark room around her with an absent gaze.

What the hell was she supposed to do, now? Kaji all but spelled it out to her: to Nerv, she meant nothing. They could always get themselves another pilot. All her achievements, all her pain and wounds and suffering didn't mean jack. What was the point of continuing to pilot if the very reason why she did it, to be appreciated, to be someone important, had proven to be nothing but a sham? She was still a silly little girl who thought she was something else. Only now, she was a silly little girl who could get herself killed if she didn't watch her tongue.

She was still protecting humanity, Asuka disagreed with herself, taking another sip of cold tea absently, but the thought was hollow. She never cared about humanity; she just cared about being the best, to rely only on herself. And now, it turned out she was just a small cog in some kind of an incomprehensibly large machine, ready to be exchanged for another with a snap of someone's fingers.

"Disgusting," she whispered, then quickly wiped at her face, fearing to feel tears yet finding nothing. That was good.

Kaji could've at least seduced her, a sudden stray thought flashed in her brain. She wasn't even good enough to sleep with, was she?

Suppressing the morose thoughts, the girl slapped herself and downed the rest of her drink in one gulp, then angrily switched the lights back on. So what if this lying treacherous snake Ryoji Kaji didn't care for her? Who the hell needed him? And screw Nerv, and the UN too, now that she was thinking about it. She didn't need them, either. She was the best damn Eva pilot there ever was, Asuka decided, switching the TV on and quickly changing her dress for a top and shorts, and she wasn't about to just sit here and mope about how cruel the world was. She had herself, she had her Eva, she had Shinji to save her arse if she ever messed up, and she had an enemy to fight. That was all she'd ever need.

The night proved sleepless, despite the new resolution. _How could he…

* * *

_

Asuka Langley Sohryu pressurized her plug suit with a quick slap on her wrist, then calmly closed her locker lid. Then, after a second of thought, the redhead opened the door again and slammed it shut with as much force as she could muster, causing the metal to warp and leaving a huge dent near the lock. Taking a deep, calming breath, the girl studied the destroyed locker for a second, then kicked it savagely, an impressive snarl on her face.

Still, the violent actions didn't diminish her ire, which, by the way, had been burning brightly all week, ever since the disastrous 'date' with Kaji. The feeling of betrayal that the girl first felt had transformed into searing anger by the time she left for school the next morning, causing the German teenager to demolish her school desk again in an attempt to vent somehow. That didn't help, and neither did any other amount of property damage she had inflicted on numerous articles of furniture all around the Geo-front and Tokyo-3 within the last seven days. And, since Asuka's only confidant, Hikari, was still avoiding her, the proud girl had no-one to talk to either. Ayanami didn't count, since the albino was clueless in such complicated matters. Besides, Rei would probably report the incident to the Commander, and no matter how much Asuka hated Kaji right now, she didn't want him incarcerated, or worse, killed, despite having entertained quite a few bloody scenarios.

Misato was also out of the question, for the same reasons. There was also the fact that the older woman still carried a torch for the UN inspector, to consider.

Now that Unit 01 had finally been restored enough for a reactivation after its little swim in magma, however, Asuka was looking forward to the synch experiment, hoping to talk about her trouble with Shinji, her self-doubt being pushed into the background by the fact that Kaji, of all people, had betrayed her trust, no matter for what 'noble' reasons.

While the incident with a man she was in love with using her so shamelessly only reaffirmed the fact that she didn't need anyone in her life and to believe otherwise had been an epitome of foolishness, the girl admitted that completely cutting all her ties with everyone was akin to suicide for her at the moment. No need to go off the deep end, after all.

Besides, she needed _someone _to talk to, to reaffirm that there were at least a few people in this world that she could still put a minimal amount of trust in, or she'd go insane from the amount of hate boiling within her.

Shinji, stuck in an incorporeal state and unable (or unwilling) to communicate with anyone but her, qualified quite nicely. In fact, the existence-impaired boy who had proven he would risk his own un-life for her was the only possibility to confide in.

The redhead sighted heavily, the rage receding for a time, then studied the destroyed locker with mild distaste. She really needed to get a grip on her temper. Straightening her shoulders and opening the door of the changing room, the redhead strode out into the corridor connecting Cage 7 and Observation, then, ignoring everyone around her lest she flipped out again and started punching stuff, directed her steps towards the hangar housing her purple Eva.

Jumping into the entry plug and waiting impatiently until the capsule was lowered into Unit 01's back, Asuka quickly run through the reactivation checklist, ignoring Akagi's mild glare for skipping the steps she found unnecessary, then closed the communication window and stared into the orange liquid around her.

The response didn't leave her waiting for long, the blue tongue of flame materializing in front of her almost immediately. There was something wrong, though. The fireball's size was greatly reduced, now only a flickering mote of blue light, which bobbed up and down in the liquid tiredly.

"_Asuka?" _Shinji's voice sounded far away, as if he was speaking from a great distance. From his tone, he was yawning, _"Is that you? What day is it?"_

"Yes, it's me, Third Child. What the hell happened to you?" the redhead inquired bluntly, studying the small flicker of blue light, now barely bright enough to illuminate her outstretched hands.

"_Still tired," _the boy explained, his avatar burning a bit brighter, as if to reassure her, _"It's not easy to keep the Eva running for two minutes after the batteries run out, while inside magma, and the pilot's not helping. I've been in and out of it, so I don't know how long it's been since then, though."_

"It's been a week, Shinji," the redhead smiled weakly, "Thanks, by the way. That one was pretty close."

"_Don't mention it," _the boy dismissed with another mental yawn, _"I'm just glad you made it out alright. How you been, anyways?"_

"Shitty," the girl commented scowling slightly, then stretched out her legs and tried to relax forcibly, "I had dinner with Kaji and it didn't end well."

"_Kaji, Kaji… Isn't he the one who took care of you in Germany? I think you mentioned him a few times. The one you used to have a crush on?" _Ikari inquired, the fireball settling down onto one of the control yokes, as if to rest.

"Yeah, that's him. And it wasn't just a crush, Third, get your facts straight," Asuka corrected, searching for words, "And not used to, either. Still have. Had. Until a week ago."

"_Ok, mind explaining this a bit more?" _Ikari queried after a short pause, _"I mean, something huge must've happened, right?"_

"Well, he invited me to dinner, which I kinda liked to pretend was actually a date, but only wanted to dig some information on you out of me, probably for his boss in the UN government," the redhead sighted morosely, her words lacking the anger she had been feeling all week, then went on animatedly, "I mean, here I am, basically throwing myself at him and he just uses me like some kind of _resource! _I mean, I'd probably have told him if he asked me directly! And then he has the utter gall to say he's doing it only so Nerv doesn't have me killed for disclosing classified data! As if asking me out, playing with my feelings and then trying to liquor me up so I'm more talkative's all better!"

"_What? Killed?" _Shinji's voice sounded shocked, making Asuka relax even further, _"Wait a tick! You're a pilot! They can't!"_

"They can," the girl disagreed, still smarting about the little tidbit, "Now that you let Suzuhara pilot you, they have an alternative. I'm not so useful anymore, so the UN can try getting some info out of me, causing Nerv to get rid of me as a traitor."

"_**WHAT?" **_Shinji's voice almost boomed, although the flare his avatar emitted was still very weak, _"You didn't betray anyone, damn it! And like hell I'm going to allow someone other than you to pilot Unit 01! Suzuhara was a one-time only thing!"_

"Yes, but they don't know that, do they?" Asuka smirked mirthlessly, "Don't get your panties in a twist, I'm not going to disclose _any_ info now that I'm more informed about the whole deal, so my hide's safe. That's not the point, anyways."

"_Not the point?" _Shinji's fireball moved from its perch on the control yoke and now hung in front of her face.

"Yeah, the point's Kaji stabbing me in the back. I mean, he was my guardian for about three years, for god's sake," the German pilot explained, "And I trusted him, too. I mean, he was always so suave, so confident, always there for me when I was still a kid… I could actually rely on him! He was probably the only one at Nerv Dusseldorf that didn't see me as a bratty child running around thinking she was something else…"

To her horror, Asuka felt tears in her eyes and run her hand over her face quickly, glad that her moment of weakness wasn't visible in the LCL.

The blue flame hovered in front of her face, wavering, as if unsure of what to do, then flared a bit in determination and slowly rested against her cheek, surprisingly warm and pleasant, although completely incorporeal. It was the first time the pulsing handful of flame had allowed physical contact, a distant part of the girl's brain noted, as she allowed herself to relish in the warmth for a second with a smile, then pulled away quickly, coming to her senses.

"What are you doing, Third?"

"_S-sorry, I just-just thought you needed a hug…" _Ikari trailed off awkwardly, his avatar still hanging quite close to her.

"I don't need a hug," the redhead snapped, putting enough fake heat into her voice to sound convincing, "I'm just fine. I'm not some weak little girl who _needs_ someone to comfort her, damn it. I'm an adult, I'm the best damn pilot Nerv has and I don't _need_ you, or Kaji, or anyone else to wipe my nose, you got that?"

"_Sorry-sorry," _Ikari murmured, although his voice lacked the dejection, causing the girl to think he saw right through her deceit. He probably caught her smile during the brief contact; _"I won't do it again unless you want me to."_

"I _don't_ want you to, idiot!" the girl snapped, blushing despite herself.

Shinji's avatar bobbed in the liquid lightly, as if shrugging, hovered in front of her face for a second or two, then with a small pirouette, calmly settled on top of her right shoulder.

"Hey, what the hell, Third Child!" Asuka snapped again, blush growing, "Didn't I just tell you to keep to yourself?"

"_Yes, well, I'm tired and it's difficult to keep floating the whole time," _Ikari's voice commented, trying very hard to sound offhand, as if not caring that she was about to swat at him, _"Besides, what's your problem? It's not like I'm making you uncomfortable, or anything, am I?"_

"N-no, of course you aren't, you idiot!" the girl backpedaled quickly, then cursed herself for talking herself into a corner. Ikari had learned a lot about her mannerisms, it seemed.

Jerking her shoulder in a lame attempt to dislodge the small ball of light and secretly letting herself enjoy the warmth it was emitting, Asuka leaned back in her command chair, still blushing, and suppressed a smile, feeling much better then she had all week. Yes, she had everything she needed right here.

* * *

"Hikari! Hikari, wait up, damn it!" Asuka shouted several days later, having to run to catch up to the retreating girl. School had ended ten minutes ago, and the redhead figured catching her obtuse friend on her way home was her best bet. Horaki just looked over her shoulder coldly, but at least she stopped, for which Asuka was very grateful. Running with a skirt on had never been her forte. It was Ayanami's apparently, since the albino, who was currently providing moral support, wasn't even breathing hard after the impromptu sprint.

"Jeez, you're a hard girl to catch," the redhead panted, meeting the class rep's cold gaze with her own eyes, "Why the hell are you not answering my calls, anyways?"

"None of your business, Sohryu," Hikari spat, glaring even harder, "Go away and leave me alone."

Resisting the strong urge to dropkick the suddenly impolite class rep, the redhead took a few more breaths to get her heart rate under control, then straightened.

"Look, Hikari, I didn't _know _you had a thing for Suzuhara! I wouldn't have accepted if I had, damn it!" she tried to explain, "And anyways, we didn't go on the stupid date! He refused at the last moment, the little maggot!"

"Don't call him a maggot, you… you _gaijin!_" Hikari spat, turning fully towards Asuka and pushing her in the shoulder, causing the redhead to clamp down hard on her reflexes, which clearly stated that the arm that pushed her should be broken right now. Ayanami calmly observed from a few meters away.

"What did _you_ just call _me_?" the German teen spat right back, ire rising, swatting Horaki's hand away, "Here I am, trying to tell you that I'm not after Suzuhara, and you call me _that, _you little bitch?"

"_Bitch?" _Hiakri yelped, dropping her book bag and obviously intending to start a fight, "Shut up, you little whoOW!"

The ow Asuka completely agreed with, since her own ear was currently also firmly gripped between Ayanami Rei's pale fingers. The albino was frowning without engaging any face muscles at all, a feat only she was capable of.

"You are being unreasonable, class representative Horaki," the prototype pilot stated calmly, twisting her hand a bit and causing Hikari to whimper, then repeated the procedure with Asuka, "And you are being counter-productive, pilot Sohryu. Your conflict can not be resolved this way."

After thinking for a second, Rei gave both captured ears another small but exceedingly painful twist.

"I am going to release you," she proceeded, after another second of thought, "And you are going to address the issue of pilot Suzuhara's affection in a _reasonable_ and _productive_ manner."

Another twist and pause.

"And you will resolve the issue to my satisfaction, or the consequences will not be _pleasant_."

Finally reclaiming her ear, Asuka glared at her roommate, contemplating whether to start kicking or not, only to be met with a cold red-eyed stare and suddenly remember that Ayanami was a pilot even longer then herself and probably knew just as much about martial arts. Rei could be damn intimidating when she wanted to.

Favoring the disbelieving Hikari with the same cold look, the albino finally relaxed her frown marginally.

"I will leave you for now, although I expect a report from pilot Sohryu upon her homecoming," Rei finally concluded, picking up her book bag, "If your discussion does not bear fruit, more _extreme _methods of persuasion will be employed to achieve the desired result."

Without waiting for any form of acknowledgment from either of the shocked girls, Ayanami finally turned around and calmly proceeded away at a sedate pace, both Asuka and Hikari just starting at her back in complete incomprehension.

"What the hell have you been teaching her?" Hikari finally asked, rubbing at her abused ear, turning to look at the redhead.

Asuka shrugged absently, feeling like Ayanami had just proclaimed her and Hikari her prison bitches and contemplating how she could get back at Rei for the humiliation.

"_That_ wasn't from me," she finally answered, smiling slightly despite herself at the situation's ridiculousness, "She must've gotten ticked off by whatever tests they ran on her at Nerv yesterday. Ok, fine, if we're not going to fight, will you just listen?"

"Fine," Hikari conceded after a second of thought, probably not wanting to find out what extreme methods Ayanami was talking about. Neither did Asuka, for that matter.

"Ok, good," the redhead nodded to herself, picking up Hikari's book bag and proffering it to the brunette, "Now, as I was saying before someone called me a gaijin, I didn't go out with Suzuhara."

Hikari nodded, accepting the bag warily, then started towards her home slowly, Asuka falling in step at her right, and motioned for the German teen to proceed.

"He dumped me because a friend of mine threatened him," the redhead admitted, "Said I was too much trouble. So, yeah. He's all yours."

"Oh thank you so much, Sohryu," Hikari huffed, "I get your seconds. How kind of you."

"Jeez," Asuka threw her hands up in frustration, "What the hell is wrong with you! I'm saying I'm not after him! I didn't even know I was poaching on your turf, Hikari! You never said anything!"

"Because I didn't think you'd even consider going out with him," Hikari snapped back, stopping once more and rounding on the redhead, "Not after you kicked him in the nuts!"

The class rep immediately blushed at her own language, making Asuka smirk.

"I wasn't thinking," the German teen forced herself to admit, starting to walk again, "It was just, he kinda ambushed me with the offer, ok? And he's pretty hot under that tracksuit of his, so I thought I'd give him a chance. Besides, I kinda needed the money at the time, and he offered me a loan if I agreed…"

"_Asuka!" _the horrified class representative cried, blush intensifying, "How could you! That's… that's _prostitution! _I didn't know you're that kind of girl!"

"_I did not intend to sleep with him!" _the redhead cried, gripping her short hair in frustration and turning red at the mere insinuation, "Gott! What the hell is up with all of you!"

Hikari giggled suddenly, causing Asuka to stop her rant short and smile slightly as well.

"So, he dumped you before the first date, then?" the class rep inquired slyly, after a few moments of walking quietly, causing the redhead to nod, still greatly displeased by that fact, but allowing Horaki to gloat a bit for the sake of repairing their friendship.

"Yes, he did. Said I wasn't worth the effort, the little bastard," the girl growled, causing Hikari to giggle again, then scowled at her friend.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, but I'd check if he's still functional if I were you," she commented, turning her scowl into a smirk and causing the shy brunette to stop again, this time in shock, "I kicked him around pretty hard afterwards, so…"

"_Asuka!" _the class representative's tone spoke of indignation mixed with amusement.

"What? It's his own damn fault, saying stuff like that! You'd have kicked him too!"

"Well, ok, maybe," Hikari conceded after a moment of thought, "But not _there_. Maybe punched him a few times, that's all."

Asuka just smirked on.

"Yeah, well, I'd still reconsider dating Suzuhara if I were you," she commented, trying hard to sound offhand, "Considering that he peeked on me and Misato in the hot springs after we dealt with the eighth Angel…"

"He _what?" _Hiakri growled in her class disciplinarian tone, causing Asuka to feel a sliver of pity towards Toji if the pig-tailed girl and him ever actually started dating, "How could he? I… Wait. Eighth Angel?"

"Oh, that's right, you don't know anything about that," the redhead remembered, swinging her book bag and enjoying the conversation now, "It was during your trip to Okinawa. Nothing out of ordinary, I'll tell you some other time."

The brunette just nodded at that, her pigtails bobbing a bit.

"So, we good?" Asuka finally inquired after a minute of comfortable silence. Hikari nodded slowly.

"Yes, I suppose. It was a bit silly of me to blame you, wasn't it?"

"Well, yes," the redhead shrugged, dismissing the matter gregariously, though not able to resist a last dig, "But no-one's perfect after all, thought _I _wouldn't have blamed you if the situation was reversed. Let's go have a coffee so I can tell you all about the last Angel, huh?"

"Gah," Hikari wrinkled her nose a bit, ignoring the implied admonishment, "I still can't understand how you can drink that foul swill, but ok. I'll just go with a juice, thank you very much."

"Yeah, well, coffee's a drink of choice in Europe," the redhead shrugged, spotting a nearby cafe and directing her steps there, her friend following, "Anyways, a heads up: Suzuhara's at the Nerv hospital nursing a broken leg after Misato knocked him into the hot spring with a bucket, so maybe giving him a compassionate shoulder to whine on and some caring touch, maybe a massage or two might…"

"Asuka! That's _inappropriate!_"

"Hey, just saying," the girl shrugged, smirking dangerously, "After all, if you'd staked your claim earlier I'd have saved myself a lot of- GAH!"

"Thank you, Pilot Sohryu," Ayanami returned calmly, from where she had suddenly but very inconspicuously appeared at the redhead's left, "I was unsure if my approach had been stealthy enough to deceive you."

The German teen tried hard to bring her heart rate back to something approaching normal, then scowled in displeasure. Hikari just rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly, apparently already imagining what hell a Rei with a bizarre sense of humor would be like.

"Did Akagi put you on drugs yesterday?" The redhead growled, having finally recovered from the shock, referring to another mysterious testing the blond scientist insisted Rei should attend the day before, "I mean, what the hell, First Child! Are you playing ninja or something? What are you doing here anyways? Weren't you heading home?"

"I was," the albino confirmed, digging into her bag and pulling out her Nerv cell phone, displaying it to her fellow pilot, "However, upon discovering that my phone was no longer receiving signal and confirming that Tokyo-3 is currently suffering from an unplanned power black-out, I thought it best to seek you out as soon as possible."

The redhead exchanged an unsure glance with Hikari, but pulled her own Nerv phone out of her book bag.

"Mine's also not working," she commented after frowning at the cheerful 'Network not found' on the display. That wasn't supposed to happen. Nerv cell phones were slaved directly into the Magi sub-server, so they were never off grid, the Nerv supercomputers piggybacking off other providers to keep them in the network at all times.

"We should head to the headquarters," Rei confirmed her suspicion, "Representative Horaki, it would be best for you to accompany us."

"Are you sure?" Hikari inquired, looking uneasy, "Maybe I should just go to a shelter?"

"No, Ayanami's right," Asuka disagreed, "Even if it's just a blackout, no-one's going to punish us for playing it safe. You'll just have to sign a non-disclosure at most, that's all. Besides, no-one's going to shelters right now, as you can see."

Indeed, the people on the street around them seemed to be going about their business, ignoring the strange blackout with great aplomb. Of course, considering that the city was regularly attacked by gigantic beings from outer space, a simple power failure wasn't going to ruffle the population's feathers all that much, the redhead conceded.

"Ok, Rei, you know where the nearest geo-front entrance is?"

* * *

"Well, that was a bust," Asuka sighed in frustration, jerking her access card through the entrance card reader once again, only to receive the same absence of reaction as before, "How are we going to get into the geo-front now?"

"Maybe I should just go home," Hikari fidgeted worriedly, "I mean, there seems to be no trouble, so maybe it's just a blackout?"

"The only blackout there ever was in Tokyo-3 was during the Fifth Angel, and even then it was announced 3 hours before it happened," the redhead disagreed, studying the armored doors before her with disappointment: apparently, there would be no getting through them without a bulldozer at the very least, "The whole city's never without power, the government would rather shut down the lights in the capital then leave us in the dark, since we, you know, can get attacked by Angels at any minute?"

"Yes," Rei agreed, currently calmly flipping through the small emergency orders booklet she pulled from her book bag, "According to the UN charter, Tokyo-3 is to be prioritized when concerning energy shortages. The geo-front also possesses several geothermal power plants as backups. However, since the Magi regulate the energy distribution throughout the city, the only possible explanation for the current situation is a foreign interference negatively influencing the Magi."

"What, you think someone hacked the Magi?" Asuka inquired disbelievingly, eyebrow arched, only to cause the albino to fold her booklet back up and stand. Hikari's eyes just jumped between the pilots, the class representative obviously not knowing what the hell her two classmates were talking about.

"Unlikely," the blue-haired girl disagreed, closing up her book-bag, "The cause can vary, but the most likely explanations are either sabotage or enemy attack. We may be needed in our Evas."

Asuka favored her with a look that clearly said the albino shouldn't state the obvious.

"Duh," the girl commented after a second, "But how the hell are we gonna get to the geo-front? The doors are sealed, as you can see."

"We can gain access through the maintenance access route 4," Rei explained, already starting to walk and causing Asuka and Hikari to fall in behind her, "It is one of the service entrances positioned nearby."

"Well, ok, then," the redhead agreed after a second of thinking the matter over, "I'm nominating myself as the leader, then."

"You are the highest ranking officer present," Ayanami nodded calmly, stopping in front of an inconspicuous back alley entrance, which, upon further study, revealed a cunningly placed steel door with a winch at its side.

"We have to open it manually," the blue-haired girl commented, dumping her book-bag and gripping the turning handle. Asuka joined in, while Hikari just watched the whole proceedings worriedly.

* * *

"Ok, that's ridiculous," Asuka grumbled after an hour or so, staring into the darkness around the three girls, while Hikari followed closely behind her and Ayanami brought up the end of the procession, apparently not needing any light to see, "Anyone have a flashlight or something?"

"No," Rei commented with great aplomb, not stopping her steps, "But I am reasonably sure that we are on the correct track to the primary maintenance ladder."

"Great," Asuka shrugged, accelerating her steps and secretly glad for the encouragement, "Let's hurry it up then."

The next few minutes were spent in silence, only the sounds of their steps audible in the dark.

"Is it always like this?" Hikari finally inquired, apparently unable to take the quiet, causing the redhead in front of her to shrug in the darkness.

"No, not really. We usually just get into our Evas and crush stuff," Asuka explained, then took a left into the corridor, relying on her intuition, "Never had a problem getting to the HQ before."

"It is an unusual situation," Ayanami agreed, "And I feel I must commend you for not succumbing to panic, class representative Horaki."

"Just Hikari, Rei," the brunette smiled, "It's a bit weird when you always call me that."

"It's a wasted effort, Hikari," Asuka grinned, stopping to study a door to her right, "I'm still breaking her out of calling me 'Pilot Sohryu'."

Rei emitted a very quiet sound that resembled a huff.

"It is your designation, pilot Sohryu," she elaborated with the barest trace of exasperation, "And it would be inappropriate to address you otherwise when on duty."

"See what I mean?" Asuka teased, sending Hikari a smirk, although unsure if the class rep saw it in the darkness, then gripped the door's handle and wrenched it open.

Instead of another dark corridor she was expecting, the girl was greeted with a huge yellow eye with a blue double-iris, on dark green background, framed by a red triangle, staring at her. The almost black and slightly furry body the eye was set in gave a slight spasm, causing the foreign eye to roll around a bit, as if focusing on her. After another microsecond the iris within the iris also shifted, the movement completely alien from anything the three girls had ever seen in their lives.

"That was the wrong door!" Hikari squeaked hysterically, as the redhead slammed the door shut as quickly as she could, her own face set into a mask of horror, the foreign gaze she just experienced sending a mild shudder through her spine.

There was a sound of something being spit out and some sort of liquid splashing onto the door from the outside, and the heavy steel started disintegrating quickly, showing ugly puss-like substance in the quickly appearing holes.

"Run for it!" Asuka ordered, directing her steps back into the corridor the girls had come from, two sets of footsteps following closely.

"What the hell was that?" the class rep demanded, panting, voice shaky, when the trio stopped their mad dash for safety. Ayanami, the only one unperturbed by the horrid thing they saw, shrugged mildly.

"An Angel," she pronounced, throwing a quick glance around the dark corridor intersection, "Pilot Sohryu, I suggest taking another route."

"You don't say," Asuka snapped sarcastically, then squared her shoulders, "Ok then, let's try this corridor now."

After another rather tense track down the corridor, Rei suddenly stopped in front of an inconspicuous ventilation grate.

"We can accelerate our progress if we enter the ventilation system here," the albino proclaimed at Asuka's surprised look, then gave the metal grate a rather impressive kick, causing the metal cover to bend and fall off.

"How do you know?" the redhead demanded, while Hikari just gripped her sleeve, still a bit panicky after the sight of the Angel. Ayanami looked a bit embarrassed.

"I found the ventilation shafts interesting when I was a child," she commented, removing the damaged vent cover with another kick and crouching down, preparing to crawl inside. Asuka raised an eyebrow.

"You grew up here?" She asked in surprise, following the albino into the tight confines of the small shaft, Hikari proceeding after her and keeping as close as possible to the redhead.

"Yes," Rei answered after a few minutes, crawling on and taking a right, then struggled for a few seconds, obviously trying to dislodge another vent cover, "Commander Ikari spends most of his time at the geo-front, and I accompanied him very often before I was assigned my own quarters. However, as the Commander did not always have the time to watch over me, I was often left to my own devices."

"I see," Asuka drawled, marking another strike against Ikari Gendo, "So he just left you to crawl into ventilation, huh? With fans and deep shafts you could've fallen into?"

"You should not hold it against the Commander," Ayanami said, sounding mildly annoyed, having finally opened the grate and now climbing down the ladder of what appeared to be an elevator shaft, the redhead and Hikari following suit, "I was a child and thus curious about my surroundings. I was often reprimanded and disciplined for my actions back then."

"He should have watched you more carefully," Hikari puffed out, voice strained from having to climb down the rather unhandy ladder, finally joining the conversation and sounding disapproving, "My father never let me wander off when I was a kid."

"The Commander's attention is often required on more important matters," Ayanami snapped a bit heatedly, sounding defensive and finally stepping onto solid ground, quickly followed by the other two girls, then crawled into another ventilation shaft, apparently quite familiar with the layout now, "And the care I received has always been sufficient."

"Yeah right," Asuka snapped back, vividly remembering the ugly hole of a flat Rei had lived in, "'Sufficient' is what's enough for a goldfish, not your own kid, Ayanami."

"But I am not Commander Ikari's child," Rei defended once more, crawling on through another intersection, "And I am thankful for the care he has given me."

'Considering that he's dumped 'his own child' as soon as he could, it doesn't surprise me he treats you like crap,' Asuka thought acidly, recalling the rather unkind words Shinji had described his father with. Still, she knew from her previous attempts that trying to talk some sense into Rei was futile, since the albino would just clamp up if the topic of assholeness of Gendo Ikari was explored further.

Hikari, however, had no such concerns whatsoever.

"If this Commander of yours takes you in as his ward, he should find the time to look after you," she lectured, readily grabbing onto the topic, probably to ignore the unusual surroundings, "I mean, my dad always has the time for me and my sisters, even if he's dead tired after his shift."

"I find," Rei's voice acquired a rather cold undertone, "that you do not possess enough knowledge of Commander Ikari to render judgment."

"You're living on your own at fourteen, Rei," Hikari shrugged, "And if what Asuka's been telling me about your old flat's true, then…"

"_You do not know enough, class representative Horaki," _Rei interrupted in a tone far harsher then anything Asuka had ever heard from her before, "And I would thank you to desist from further uninformed comments."

An uncomfortable silence followed, the class rep obviously cowed by the sudden and completely uncharacteristic spike of anger the albino had displayed. Now that Asuka thought about it, this was the most emotional reaction Rei had in all the time the redhead knew her. Good. If Ayanami was getting defensive, then the albino had finally realized there was _something_ wrong to get defensive about.

"Sorry, Rei," Hikari finally mumbled into the darkness, following the blue-haired girl and Asuka out of the shaft they had been crawling in and into another corridor, straightening her clothes, "I didn't mean to upset you."

"You have not," Ayanami acknowledged, still a little chilly, although obviously having regained her usual calm demeanor, "And I, too, apologize for my outburst."

"Ok, now that that's over," Asuka drawled, a bit bemused by the exchange, "We should probably get going."

* * *

"Well, that was timely," Ritsuko Akagi smiled when Asuka jumped down in front of the doctor from the vent they had been moving through, followed shortly by Hikari and Rei, "We were just planning on how to contact you two."

"Akagi-san, there's an Angel on the surface," the redhead rushed out, while Hikari just looked around in wonder at the impressive command bridge and the cavern around it, "We've seen it when we were climbing down."

"We know," the scientist nodded, her lab coat ruffled and hair in a bit of a disarray, "Hyuuga managed to contact us. He's currently on the surface, trying to get the people to the shelters. Can you tell us anything about it?"

"Well, we didn't see much," the redhead admitted, exchanging a look with Ayanami, "Only its eye, and then it spat acid at us, so we ran for it."

"Acid, hmm?" Ritsuko mused, quickly extracting her ever-present clipboard from the back of her waist, and throwing it a look, "That's… worrying. The Angels before haven't used any kind of chemical weapons. Oh, and who's your friend?"

The last phrase was said in a rather disapproving tone, causing Hikari's attention to jerk back to the blonde woman and stop her study of the nearest terminal.

"I'm sorry, my name is Horaki Hikari. Pleased to meet you," the class rep rushed out, bowing, while Akagi just raised her eyebrows, then turned to the pilots, her frown turning dangerous.

"What gave you the idea you could bring civilians to the Headquarters?" the woman inquired, obviously greatly displeased, causing Asuka to return the glare.

"Well, we couldn't leave her out there, could we?" the girl snapped, meeting the older woman's eyes in a challenge, while Hikari blushed and shuffled her feet nervously.

"Excellent," another voice entered the conversation, this one belonging to Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, "The pilots have arrived."

"Ah, Sub-Commander!" Asuka chirped turning around and sizing the opportunity, her eyes acquiring an angelic puppy-dog look, "We had to bring our friend Hikari with us, so the Angel outside wouldn't kill her. It's ok, isn't it?"

The older gentleman shifted uncomfortably under the blue-eyed innocent gaze, obviously unprepared for such a tactic, then gave a dignified nod.

"Of course, of course," he dismissed the matter, then turned to one of the technicians, "Ibuki-san? Could you please escort miss… Hikari, was it? To one of the meeting rooms and keep her company until the crisis has been resolved? Thank you."

Asuka grinned winningly, giving the nervous class rep a thumbs up, then threw a victorious glance at the fuming Akagi. The older woman huffed mildly, her face promising retribution.

"Get to the Evas, both of you," she snapped, readjusting her lab coat a bit, "We've managed to prepare them manually. Since Misato's not here, I'll brief you."

"Misato's not here?" Asuka raised an eyebrow in surprise. From what she had seen in the past months, the Major took her responsibilities a bit too seriously, going so far as to spend almost all her time at the geo-front. Ritsuko's frown relaxed marginally, acquiring a touch of worry.

"Yes, we can't locate her at all," the blonde admitted, fishing for a pen within her lab coat's pocket, "But, considering the fact that the Magi're offline, it's not such a big surprise. She was at the geo-front when power went out, that's all we know. You better get suited up, I'll inform you if we find her."

* * *

"Ok," Asuka concluded, adjusting her Eva's grip on the pallet rifle, and studying the large acid burn in the purple Eva's forearm, "This Angel's seriously pissing me off."

"_Well, not much we can do about it," _Shinji's voice commented, also sounding displeased. Both Unit 01 and Rei's Prototype were currently huddled in one of the large side tunnels exiting into the vertical shaft ending with Heaven's Door to Terminal Dogma. They had retreated and holed up after their first contact with Matarael and now sat here, their timers ticking in intermediate mode, while the pilots watched the rain consisting out of acidic orange puss the Angel was excreting from above them.

"The distance prevents us from neutralizing the enemy's AT Field," Rei commented, forcing her cyclopic Eva to chance a peek at the furry black spider-like body at the surface, then quickly pulled the blue-armored head back into cover and switched into intermediate mode again, "We have no effective means to destroy it from here."

"Yes, yes, I know," Asuka dismissed, forcing her mind to _think, _"We need to get within at least 500 meters of that thing. Problem is, we've got only what, three minutes left? Hmm."

Rei remained silent, obviously out of ideas and letting the redhead ponder their situation, so the german teen turned her attention to Shinji.

"Well, Third, you got any ideas?" she inquired to the blue tongue of flame that was currently residing on her right forearm. The avatar had seemingly taken a liking to physical contact, such as it was, since their little talk a few days ago, much to the redhead's visible consternation and deeply hidden pleasure, and made it a habit of taking residence on some part of her body during synch tests, though avoiding her female assets and legs with great care, as if to show he wasn't a perv. Both teens had avoided the topic of this behavior, however, aside from Asuka's halfhearted rants of displeasure she felt she was obliged to deliver, so the new interaction had simply been incorporated in their usual routine. After two synch tests Asuka could barely imagine not having the fireball perched on her shoulder or arm anymore.

"_Not really, sorry," _Ikari apologized, after a few seconds of thought, _"Three minutes aren't enough to get to the surface, and I'm not sure I can get the Eva to run without power right now."_

"Still tired?" the girl queried sympathetically, receiving a mild pulse of blue light from the tongue of fire as a conformation, then set her shoulders resolutely, "Well, no matter. We simply need a plan."

After another few seconds of intense thought, Asuka sent a command to the Eva's interface. Switching the com window to Unit 00 back open, the girl regarded Rei's composed visage for a second, then started talking.

"We've got one rifle left, so here's what we're going to do, First. You're going to give me your prog knife and then lean out and fire a few rounds so that the Angel stops dropping acid and gets his AT field up. At the same time I'm going to try to jump out there and climb up as high as I can, then secure myself with the prog knives and provide you cover from the acid while neutralizing the AT field. As soon as it's eroded, I'll give you the signal and get out of the way so you have a clear line of fire. You lean out again and unload the rest of the magazine into this thing. Unit 01's armor should be able to take a few stray hits, so don't worry about friendly fire."

"I see," Ayanami commented after a second of silence, "The plan is sound. There is, however, the question of you freefalling to the shaft's bottom."

"Don't worry about that," Asuka dismissed, flexing her fist, "I'll stay hanging on by the prog knives."

Ayanami raised an eyebrow, obviously thinking it over, then nodded resolutely.

"Please chose the opposite side of the shaft to reduce the danger of my shots hitting you," she added, grabbing the rifle Asuka was proffering her, then extracted the progressive knife from her shoulder pylon.

"Ok, here goes," the redhead commented, grabbing the handle and pulling out her own blade, taking care not to engage the vibrating function. She needed something like rock-climbing bolts, not cutting tools, right now. Gripping both blades in her Eva's fists, and bemoaning the fact that Unit 01 didn't have rocket thrusters like her former red Evangelion, the girl threw a belated glance at Shinji's fireball.

"Well, Third Child, better buck up, this may hurt a bit," she grinned determinedly, gripping the control yokes tighter and setting her face.

"_You are crazy, Asuka," _Ikari's voice was a bit awe-filled, though calm enough, _"Totally crazy. Rip the Fourth Angel apart with your bare hands? Sure, why the hell not! Punch the Seventh to death? Of course! And now climb up the shaft with acid falling on you? Nuts!"_

"Oh, shut up, Third," the girl smirked, then gave the waiting albino a nod, indicating her readiness.

The pilot of the blue cyclopic Eva needed no further prompting, leaning out for about a dozen meters and giving off two calm, deliberate shots in quick succession. Asuka didn't wait up to check if the enemy stopped spewing the orange puss, simply vaulting her Evangelion into the shaft in a long jump, stabbing both blades into the opposite wall a second later, then ripped the right one free, trying to ignore the pain from the last blobs of angelic acid that splattered onto the purple Eva's head and immediately started melting the armor, and jabbed it back into the wall, but into the much higher section of it this time.

Quickly ripping out the left prog knife and repeating the procedure over and over again, aiding herself with her feet as much as possible and probably looking like some kind of demented alpinist, the redhead urged the Eva to quickly climb the shaft's height until she was about as close as she was going to get to the top. Rei gave another shot from below, obviously trying to keep the Angel from renewing his acid-spewing assault.

Taking the chance presented as the already familiar alien eye centered on her, Asuka rammed both of her knives as deeply into the steel wall as she could, then swung her Evangelion's legs, digging them into the shaft's opposite side and deploying her AT field to maximum power. The energy indicator dropped to below one minute with a loud noise.

"Rei, now!"

Holding on for another second after her shout, the redhead hissed in pain as the first globs of acid fell onto the purple giant's back, washing away the armor like it wasn't even there, then pushed off with Unit 01's legs and hung over the deep shaft, hugging the wall, the two knives her only support.

Her maneuver had proven to be just in time, as the rattle of two meter-big depleted uranium bullets being dislodged from a pallet rifle at a rate of several dozens per second sounded from below her not a second after, the shells rushing past her so closely the girl could almost _feel _the air being displaced behind her Eva's back. None hit her, as Ayanami proved to be quite a good shot, despite her rather poor 56% synch.

Five solid seconds of continuous firing later the gun below clicked empty and there was a tired groan followed by a heavy thump of something falling. The redhead held her breath, praying with all her being that the hellish barrage of metal had been enough to kill the creature half a kilometer above her, then jerked the Evangelion into motion once more, quickly forcing it to start climbing again and cursing her dwindling power supply.

The trip to the surface took another thirty seconds, Unit 01 moving as fast as she could make it, and the girl quickly threw a look at her perforated adversary. Matarael was quite obviously dead.

* * *

"Well, that was fun," Asuka commented, lying down in the tall green grass of one of the hills surrounding Tokyo-3 and staring at the clear starry sky above her, while feeling incredibly content. Ayanami sat beside her, hugging her knees loosely, gazing at the dark city in the valley a bit below them. Both Evangelions stood, kneeling, fifty meters behind the girls, now completely out of power, tall and silent. Both pilots had to drain the entry plugs' emergency accumulators and even the armor's powered components to get the machines to where they currently were, basically overwriting the whole power distribution system of the Evangelions to get them to move with the miniscule amount of battery energy they had left after the engagement, but Asuka was loathe to leave the war machines just standing in the middle of the densely populated city and look useless, until the power grid was restored.

Still, now that they were here, the redhead didn't regret her decision. The stars, clearly visibly without any light pollution, were simply breathtaking.

"Indeed," Ayanami finally commented in a content tone, interrupting the German teen's musings, "I find it pleasing that my first confirmed kill had been so low on collateral damage."

"Yeah, yeah," the redhead scowled, but let her face relax after a second. Let Ayanami have her moment of glory. After all, she, herself had six Angels to her name, so why not? Besides, she was in too peaceful a mood to argue right now, "It _was_ a pretty sweet op, discounting the whole 'crawling through ventilation' bit."

"Yes," Rei confirmed once more, then brushed away the blue bangs the slight breeze had thrown into her face, "I find myself no longer questioning your appointment as my superior."

This caused the german girl to cock an eyebrow, a bit surprised.

"You _never _questioned my promotion, First," she snorted, too content with viewing the sky to get angry at the insinuation. Ayanami simply tilted her head, as if disputing the point.

"Not verbally," the albino elaborated, hugging her legs closer despite the warm weather, "I did have several reservations, however. You have shown a tendency to disobey orders before, no matter how fortunate your insubordination proved to be. Your treatment of Pilot Suzuhara also indicated that you were prone to rank abuse. I was doubtful of your ability as a field tactician."

The redhead emitted a tired sigh.

"Jeez, Rei, come off it," she complained, sitting up, "Do you _have_ to be so anal all the time? I mean, c'mon, would it kill you to simply say you thought I sucked as a leader 'cuz I ordered the Fourth around and didn't follow some orders?"

"Was it not what I said?" Rei inquired, turning around and rearranging exactly two muscles on her face to convey surprise. Asuka sighed again.

"Forget it, First. You're a work in progress," she mumbled, laying back down and looking at the stars once more.

"You are not angry with me?" the albino carefully inquired, studying the reclined teenager. Asuka just shrugged her shoulders.

"The whole promotion thing's more political then anything else," she explained to Ayanami, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of the grass on her neck, "I mean, the Commander did it to get me under his heel, so I'd stop acting out, since I wasn't bothered by the pay cuts."

"No matter the reasons for your promotion, you have proven that you are an able leader," Rei interceded smoothly, still studying the darkened city, "One that I can trust with my life. You have not answered my question, however."

"Jeez, First…" Asuka drawled, a bit at a loss as to how to answer such bold praise, then decided that saying nothing would be best, "No, I'm not angry with you. At least you're honest."

"I see," Rei finally said after a minute of more or less comfortable silence, then also reclined herself onto the grass and closed her eyes, a tiny smile on her lips, "I'm glad."

"I swear to god, First, sometimes you're really acting like you've got a crush on me!"

In the valley below them, the city's lights sprung back to life.

* * *

"To the first Angel Battle going according to plan!" the german teen proclaimed, raising her juice glass (even a Nerv Pilot ID didn't convince the cashier at the corner store to allow her to buy sake or even beer) and clicking it with Ayanami's and Hikari's own glasses.

The trio of girls were currently sitting inside Asuka's flat, the lights burning brightly over them, the low table before them filled with take-out and drinks, while the TV blared quietly in the background. After the Evas had been transported back to their cages, Misato had been released from the elevator she had been stuck in with Kaji for company and visited the restroom (Asuka greatly enjoyed the man's sour expression) and Akagi delivered her chiding of 'never again messing with the energy distribution systems of Evangelions', the pilots, minus the still bed-ridden Suzuhara, of course, decided that a celebration was in order (Well, Asuka decided. Ayanami just went along with it), so they grabbed the still a bit shell-shocked and worried Hikari from the meeting room where she had been kept entertained by Ibuki, got the nondisclosure signed, and then migrated to Asuka's abode, where they were currently engaging in said celebration.

"It had not gone as planned, Asuka," Rei disagreed, after taking a sip from her glass of juice, "As the sabotage of the Magi was certainly not anticipated."

"Oh, don't rain on my parade," the redhead smirked, putting her glass down and nabbing herself a piece of Peking duck, the main dish of today's little party, "Besides, even if it didn't go quite as smoothly as it _could _have, today's still the day you got your Angel-killing cherry popped, isn't it?"

"Asuka!" Hikai gripped, smiling despite her chiding tone, while Rei blushed a bit at the crude description, "Don't make such inappropriate jokes!"

"Ok, ok, no need to get all high and mighty, miss 'can I go see Suzuhara'!" Asuka cheered, grinning as the class rep sputtered denials, "Maya showed me the security footage of your little visit to the hospital! You'd think he's been mauled by an angel and not caught peeking on me and Misato the way you were fussing over him."

"Oh shut up!" Hikari finally snapped, still blushing, and then downed her juice in one long gulp, crossing her arms and pouting afterwards. Asuka just laughed, while Rei smiled slightly, now that she wasn't the one being teased.

Still, as the evening progressed, the redhead couldn't help but think that it was a pity Shinji couldn't be present as well.


End file.
